Organizers of two of the Cowichan Valley’s biggest bashes of the summer are monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely as their events get closer.
The folks behind the Laketown Shakedown and Sunfest acknowledge that it’s hard to know what’s happening next, but they do have one advantage that most other similar festivals don’t in that the organizers also own the site.
Sunfest and Laketown Shakedown founder Greg Adams is also the owner of Laketown Ranch, where both events take place, which would make it easier to move the dates if necessary.
“We are cautiously optimistic and fortunate that we own our venue, which would give us flexibility,” Adams said.
The Laketown Shakedown, featuring the Wu-Tang Clan, Ludacris, Third Eye Blind and Nelly, is scheduled for June 26-28, and Sunfest, with headliners Keith Urban, Jon Pardi and Dallas Smith, is planned for July 30-Aug. 2. Organizers still hope they can go off as planned, but the health of guests, artists, staff and volunteers is paramount.
Adams and his team are in contact on a daily basis with other festivals, the federal, provincial and local governments, and Island Health, he said. They are keeping track of all the changes and considering different ways to move foward.
“It’s evolving,” Adams said. “It’s a fluid situation. But we do have options.”
