Live Oak Musical Festival hit by COVID again. Here’s what it will look like this year
Here’s some bad news for local music fans.
For the second straight year, ongoing concerns about COVID-19 have prompted organizers to cancel in-person events for Live Oak Music Festival, originally slated to take place Father’s Day weekend at El Chorro Regional Park off Highway 1 north of San Luis Obispo.
Live Oak is a major fundraiser for public radio station KCBX, which broadcasts in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and southern Monterey counties.
The popular outdoor music festival, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2018, usually features concerts, crafts, children’s activities and camping under the stars.
“We share in your excitement to resume normal life without interruptions, and ... that includes camping and gathering with friends at Live Oak,” Frank Lanzone Jr., KCBX FM president and general manager, wrote in an email to Live Oak fans on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, however, the situation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic remains volatile, and it will likely remain volatile for at least the next four to six months,” Lanzone continued. “Because of this, KCBX has made the difficult decision to transform Live Oak 2021 into a new and improved virtual festival, Live Oak on the Radio.”
Details about the virtual festival, which will be held June 18 to 20, were scarce Wednesday.
But Lanzone said more information will be available soon on Live Oak’s website, liveoak.org, promising that Live Oak fans can “look forward to new activities and opportunities to enjoy music and connect with friends.”
A “Live Oak Music Festival on the Radio” event held in June 2020 featured recordings of past concerts and “amazing live performances from local artists, introduced and ballyhooed by our favorite Oakie emcee, Joe Craven,” according to the festival website. That three-day virtual event raised close to $50,000, organizers said.
It’s the second time in as many years that the coronavirus pandemic has spoiled plans for Live Oak fans.
In April 2020, organizers announced that the festival would be postponed for a year due to COVID-19 concerns.
According to the Live Oak website, people “still holding tickets to the 2020 festival with the understanding that they would be transferred to the 2021 festival” have three options. They can make a tax-deductible donation to KCBX, receive a partial refund and donate the balance or receive a full refund.
Live Oak got its start in Arroyo Grande in 1988. The festival returned to San Luis Obispo County in 2019 after 29 years at Cachuma Lake in northern Santa Barbara County.
