Salmonfest announced their decision to cancel the 2020 event and reschedule for August 6 – 8 of next year, in a release issued on Friday. They do still hope to work with local health departments about hosting a smaller-scale gathering this year, if circumstances allow for it.
In their statement, they noted: “As a festival built around fish, love, and music, we try our hardest to think about everyone involved, especially the residents of Alaska, when making decisions. We do not believe that it is possible to have the festival as usual and will continue to work hard to be able to bring you the best 10 year anniversary festival yet in 2021.”
They also offered apologies to the people of Ninilchik as well as all bands, vendors, staff, and volunteers that would have participated in this year’s Salmonfest. Ultimately, while the release states that they want to take everyone’s opinions into account, they believe that the people of Ninilchik are the most important factor and that there are “enough serious concerns expressed that we must and do respect.”
Shanon Davis, Executive Director of the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce told KSRM on Tuesday that she expresses her solidarity to all involved in Salmonfest: “I want to really say how sad we were to hear about the cancellation of Salmonfest, but I wanted to recognize – because I’m not sure how much people understand about the amount of work that goes into putting these events on, and also the capital that has to be put up in order to have an event like this run. My sincerest sympathies to the event organizers and also to the vendors that are going to not be able to participate in these events this year.”
Those who have already purchased tickets for the 2020 festival will receive an e-mail regarding refunds via the address used to make the purchase.
