New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival Canceled Over Covid-19 Fears

Bruce Haring
·2 min read
1

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, popularly known as “JazzFest,” has been canceled for fall 2021, festival organizers announced Sunday. It is the second year in a row the major entertainment event has been canceled by the pandemic.

The event, planned for October, was axed because of rising Covid-19 cases in the New Orleans area, which set a new record for hospitalizations related to the virus four days in a row this week.

More from Deadline

“As a result of the current exponential growth of new COVID cases in the New Orleans and the region and the ongoing public health emergency, we must sadly announce that the 2021 edition of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell, scheduled to take place October 8 -17, 2021, will not occur as planned,” festival organizers said in a statement.

The festival will be re-scheduled for its normal two weeks in the spring, and is now set to run April 29 through May 8, 2022. “We now look forward to next spring, when we will present the Festival during its traditional timeframe,” the statement read. “Next year’s dates are April 29 – May 8, 2022.”

Ticketholders will be advised via email on how to get a refund or how they can roll over tickets for the future dates. All Wednesday, Oct. 13 tickets will be automatically refunded.

“In the meantime, we urge everyone to follow the guidelines and protocols put forth by public health officials, so that we can all soon experience together the joy that is Jazz Fest,” the statement said.

The annual event is one of the major economic engines for New Orleans, attracting an older and affluent crowd for its two week runs. Nearly 500,000 people attended in the pre-Covid-19 days of the festival. The festival combines local New Orleans acts flavored with jazz and gospel, topped with such pop acts as Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Buffett, to name just two of the big names that have appeared.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Ts9DzqrQQ?version=3&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://deadline.com&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent&listType=playlist&list=RDQMBwA07_ZzB1A&w=640&h=360]

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.