Christopher BarrettThe organisers of independent festival Boomtown Fair (cap. 66,000) have called off attempts to stage a scaled-down version of the event for locals, dubbed Boom Village.
Following the cancellation of the main event in April due to concerns around Covid-19 mitigation requirements and a lack of available cancelation insurance, organisers announced that they would stage the 4,000-capacity Boom Village on 12-15 August at the festival’s site, the Matterley Estate near Winchester.
Organisers issued a statement which explained that the main reason for the decision to cancel Boom Village was due to the escalating cases of Covid-19 across the country, and “the risks that widespread illness and self-isolation could have on our crew and contractors, which would result in us not having enough people to build and deliver the show to the high public safety standards we uphold”.
The statement said that despite having devised a concept that could have worked in the current climate, despite all the existing issues such as a lack of insurance, organisers felt they had no alternative but to cancel: “We were navigating our way through those obstacles, but with the timelines being pushed back, the changes we’ve seen to policy and the national escalation in cases, the odds now feel stacked against us and we are no longer in a position to be able to proceed.”
The main 66,000-capacity festival, which has benefitted from a £991,000 Cultural Recovery Fund grant, was due to return to the Matterley Estate, near Winchester, on 11-15 August.
Boomtown Fair creative producer Mair Morel discussed the Boom Village project during the Access All Areas conference at the Event Production Show. The panel session can we viewed here.