Festival status update: Still hoping to go ahead as planned

Hi friends and supporters of the Big Weekend. We hope you are keeping well and in good health amid this unprecedented global situation we all suddenly and unexpectedly find ourselves in.

We thought it was time to give you the heads up as to where the Covid-19 Coronavirus leaves us in relation to the Big Weekend festival in August.

We had an urgent committee meeting on Wednesday to look at our options. We all agreed that at this stage, still with 5 months to go and a very fast moving situation, that it is too soon to make a decision to cancel the event; and have proposed instead to continue to work towards it going ahead as planned, for the time being at least.

We will review the situation on the 15th May, exactly three months before the event. We are hoping by then to have a clearer idea of the longevity of the situation and we will make a final decision based on more up to date information.
The last thing we want to do is disappoint folks by cancelling, but we also want to ensure the absolute safety of our event for our guests; and be able to make a more informed decision within a reasonable time frame.

If we did arrive at a situation where we felt we had to cancel/postpone, we would endeavour that where possible we would defer the same program of Artists to the following year, August 2021.

At this moment in time the festival is going ahead, but the final decision will be made on 15th May.

We have, with immediate effect, extended the cut-off date for tier two tickets to 10am on Sunday 31st May; as we want to give those who are holding off from buying tickets the opportunity to get them at the tier two prices IF the festival is able to go ahead.

The current contingency plan, if we decide to postpone; would be to roll those tickets already purchased over to next year (2021) and keep the ticket sales open until then.

We understand that some people may wish to request a refund, this can be done via Eventbrite. Although we hope you are willing to bear with us and see how this situation unfolds.
We will be having weekly meetings to keep on top of this developing situation and will keep everyone informed of any changes or developments via our Facebook page, website and email (for those who have purchased tickets).

Look after each other, stay safe, and we hope to see you in August!
With love and best wishes from, The North Shropshire Big Weekend Team