SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — For the second consecutive year, the Wonderfront Music and Arts Festival has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The festival was scheduled to be held along San Diego Bay sometime this year, but due to the threat of the delta variant of COVID-19 and the surge in new cases and hospitalizations, organizers said they are postponing the festival again until next fall.
"The continued safety of the community had to be front and center in our decision making. We pushed as long as we could working with the Wonderfront Festival team to see if case trends might look more positive or new information would give us the comfort level needed to move forward," said Michael Brown, Port of San Diego’s vice president of marketing and communications. "But at the end of the day, the situation has not improved. Knowing that people book advance travel to attend, and production crews have months of logistical planning to do, a final decision needed to be made."
Organizers are now hoping to bring the festival back to San Diego on Nov. 18 - 20, 2022.
Wonderfront debuted in 2019, bringing nearly 60,000 people to the three-day music and arts event along San Diego’s waterfront. The pandemic and restrictions around large gatherings sidelined the festival's second year in 2020. Organizers said they were preparing to announce 2021's iteration when COVID-19 cases began to spike once again.
"This announcement, though challenging, is met with understanding and appreciation for the Port of San Diego for providing us with such a spectacular venue for our festival," said Paul Thornton, Managing Partner of Wonderlust Events, LLC. "We love our lineup, including major headliners who confirmed this year, and the Wonderfront team has been tirelessly working on the festival’s second year. We have some new fan experiences we were so excited to roll out. Our team completely understands the Port of San Diego’s decision, as the safety of the Wonderfront community must come first. Once again, we will pivot and work with our artists to push this lineup to our new 2022 dates. We’re hoping to finalize the new dates so we can announce them and put tickets on-sale this Fall."
Leading up to next year's new dates, organizers said they plan to announce a series of entertainment experiences, dubbed "Road to Wonderfront 2022," when it is deemed safe for live events to return.
More information on Wonderfront can be found online.
