Organizers of the Soundtraac Family Music Festival announced Wednesday that the two-day concert in Central Park has been postponed to a yet-to-be determined date and location.
Lance Sterling, owner of the event’s organizer Sterling Venue Ventures, cited a spike in COVID-19 cases, concern for the community and potential staffing issues in a prepared statement explaining the decision to postpone. Sterling also operates The Canyon Santa Clarita, a popular live music venue that’s part of Westfield Valencia Town Center.
“Getting all of those sign-offs is very difficult in a situation where people are worried about (the) Delta variant (and) loss of life,” he told The Signal about navigating the permit process for running the festival.
The two-day concert originally scheduled for Aug. 7-8 was going to feature a lineup of 12 performers, including Plain White T’s, Shwayze, Wilson Phillips and others.
Sterling, who organizes similar events in Southern California, said he started planning for a Santa Clarita festival in June, when it became clear that the state’s economy was reopening.
“We gave ourselves until August thinking by then it should be clear,” he said of the coronavirus’s presence in Los Angeles County.
Sterling called postponement the “smart and safe way,” noting he came to the conclusion that he had no other choice but to postpone the festival.
Current ticket holders could choose to have their ticket refunded, honored at a later date, or used toward concerts this weekend at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank, where they can see The Commodores on Friday and Little River Band on Sunday, or the Libbey Bowl in Ojai, where they can see Little River Band on Saturday.
“Just present your (Soundtraac Family Music) Festival tickets to the box office at either Starlight or Libbey Bowl, and you will be granted free admission,” Sterling said in a prepared statement, apologizing for the inconvenience. “Plus, you can keep your festival tickets for use when the event is re-scheduled.”
The city of Santa Clarita, which owns Central Park, declined to comment about Sterling’s decision to postpone the festival, which took the place of an earlier scheduled city-organized “Concerts in the Park” event.