Report: Coachella festival delayed again to Oct. 2021
The Coachella Music and Arts Festival will be rescheduled yet again, according to a report by Rolling Stone.
"Sources who have been in direct communication with AEG and Goldenvoice, the concert-promotion companies that organize the festival, say they have been asked to prepare for a move to the fall," write Samantha Hissong and Ethan Millman of Rolling Stone.
The massive music festival was first rescheduled to take place starting the weekend of October 9, 2020, before being called off by Riverside County health officials in June due to growing concern that "COVID-19 could worsen in the fall.”
This now marks the third postponement of the festival, pushing it 18 months from its original dates.
A spokesperson for the festival's host city Indio told News Channel 3 that they haven't heard from Goldenvoice regarding any additional delays or cancellations.
Goldenvoice, Coachella's parent company has not sent out confirmed another delay at this time. We have reached to Goldenvoice for further comment.
The festival usually attracts upwards of 100,000 people from all over the world over each of the two weekends. The original postponement of the valley's festival season brought a huge hit to the local economy, to the tune of about $700 million, according to the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership.
"It's horrible – it's horrible for everybody locally here," said Esmerelda Valazquez, a Stagecoach attendee. "We look forward to that. My whole family looks forward to it; my kids look forward to it."
"It is financially really devastating," said Danira Arellano, general manager of Hampton Inn Suites Indio. With no festival-goers checking in for at least another year, she said those rooms lost mean revenue lost.
"Over the three weekends, we're looking at $300,000 to $400,000 in revenue that will be lost," Arellano said. "That is going to be really hard for us to try to recover from."
The postponement is hitting from hotels to vacation rentals.
"That is a big reason why people have vacation rentals in the Coachella area – because those are big weekends," said Mike Smith, CEO of luxury vacation rental company Vacay Stay.
He said while people will continue to book with or without the festivals, the difference is in the rental rate. "When the festivals come, the rates are definitely higher so I'm not going to lie – we're going to miss that," Smith said.
Tu Madres Cantino opened a few blocks from the Empire Polo Club grounds just before the pandemic hit. Chef Julio Espino said the restaurant hasn't benefitted yet from a festival boost to business.
"We hired a lot of kitchen staff because we expected Coachella and Stagecoach, and we had to let them go," Espino said.
Now, people are just waiting for when festival season returns.
"If it means staying healthy, I can deal with that. I can wait another year," Valazquez said.
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