The Estevan and District Music Festival has been cancelled.
In a post on its Facebook page Sunday morning, the music festival announced that earlier in the day, the Saskatchewan Music Festival Association (SMFA) board of directors had advised that all festivals be cancelled immediately for the 2020 festival season.
This difficult decision was made in order to protect participants, patrons and the general population from exposure to COVID-19, and to limit the spread of the disease.
“Due to the uncertainty of time lines, rescheduling of 2020 festivals will not be possible,” the post said.
With the cancellation of the majority of the district festivals, the SMFA board of directors also made the decision to cancel the 2020 provincial finals.
Participants will be contacted about a refund of entry fees. Scholarship donors and friends of the festival donors will be contacted as well.
The festival was scheduled to start Tuesday with the band and strings discipline. Entries were also received for junior and senior piano, and speech arts and vocal categories.
More than 450 entries were received for Estevan’s festival, which was scheduled to take place in March and early April at multiple venues in the community.
The decision by the Saskatchewan Music Festival Association also had an impact on the Carnduff and District Music and Arts Festival. The various disciplines for the event were held last week, but the festival highlights and awards program, which was scheduled for Monday night in Carnduff, has been cancelled.
