AthFest Music and Arts Festival-CANCELED
A statement from the AthFest Educates Executive Director, Jill Helme, about the 2021 AthFest Music & Arts Festival:
"We are very sad to announce that the 2021 AthFest Music & Arts Festival did not receive its final permit from the Athens-Clarke County (ACC) government due to the high number of current COVID-19 cases in the area. Because the COVID-19 community spread numbers were above ACC’s threshold to permit special events, the county will not issue a final permit for the 2021 AthFest Music & Arts Festival scheduled for September 24 - September 26.
We are incredibly disappointed by the cancellation, and we hope our community’s numbers improve drastically over the next few weeks. While improvements won’t change the status of the 2021 AthFest, there are still a number of upcoming special events that support our community’s local nonprofits and we’d like to see them spared the same outcome as the festival. We can only hope that by next year things will look better for all of us, and we’ll be able to produce the community festival we all love and miss.
The team of dedicated volunteers and professionals who plan and organize the festival have been working for months on this year’s festival, with sponsors lined up, musicians booked, vendors in place and plans for a great festival in the works, with every intention for it to happen this year. We are heartbroken to say the least, but we understand: the community’s health and safety must come first.
We strongly urge everyone to follow CDC recommendations for community safety so we all can move on and enjoy events like AthFest in years to come. We’d like to thank our dedicated sponsors who chose to support this event regardless of the potential for cancellation and we encourage everyone to support those businesses and their products and services. You can see a list of our generous sponsors under the “Sponsors” tab at athfest.com website.
We’ll assess the situation in January 2022 when considering moving forward with a 2022 festival. Until then, thank you to all the musicians, visual artists, vendors, sponsors, and volunteers for your continued support. Hopefully we’ll see you next year."
AthFest is Back! The 2021 AthFest Music & Arts Festival will take place in downtown Athens, GA from September 24 – September 26, 2021.
The annual celebration of Athens’ creative scene is a multi-day, free, outdoor festival including live performances on three outdoor stages, an artist market, KidsFest, food and retail vendors and multiple beer gardens.
The festival showcases the best talent in our area and generates huge awareness for the nonprofit, AthFest Educates, and its mission to provide much-needed funding to support music and arts education for youth.
AthFest is takes health & safety very seriously, and strongly encourages both masks and vaccinations. The festival layout allows for more stage viewing space, and there is a reduced number of vendor spaces to provide greater room for festival attendees to move freely. Hand sanitizer will be readily available.
As the weekend approaches, AthFest will share upt-to-date information on policies and procedures at www.AthFest.com and on social media accounts.