The Pine River Area Foundation (PRAF), owners of the Lakes Bluegrass Festival, announced today (Thursday) that the 15th Annual Festival will be postponed until August 25 – 29, 2021. President of the foundation, Steven Hansen, stated that the current situation with COVID-19 restrictions makes it very doubtful that they would be allowed to have the festival, as gatherings of over 250 are still not allowed in this phase of reopening and they have several thousand attend the festival every year. “In fact, it appears that we are going in the wrong direction with a spike in reported cases,” stated Hansen. He additionally sites the recent mandatory mask requirement as additional reason.
“Even if we were able to hold the event, the uncertainty of sponsors and attendees would be too large of a financial risk for the organization. When the state started opening back up several weeks ago, we were optimistic conditions and restrictions would improve enough by the end of the summer that the event could go on as planned, but this is not the case and we are making the only responsible decision we feel that we can make at this time.” -Steve Hansen
There will be a small camping event Friday through Sunday the weekend that the festival was scheduled (Aug 28-30) at the new festival site, “The Lakes Music and Events Park”, just one mile north of Pine River. Local musicians will entertain Saturday afternoon as well as jamming all weekend. You must call ahead for reservations if you wish to camp (844-620-GRAS). Non-camping visitors are also welcome. A cash donation will be requested at the gate. A strict limit of 250 people will be in place and all mitigation rules in place at the time will be observed (there are over 24 acres for folks to spread out). For complete information, please go to www.lakesbluegrassfestival.com.