How postponing festival season will affect businesses and vacation rentals

It's official — Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals are now postponed until October amid growing coronavirus concerns.

The three festival weekends bring in a combined 325,000 people and hundreds of millions of dollars to the Coachella Valley, and some business and vacation rental owners now aren't quite sure what this postponement will mean for them as the effects ripple through the community.

"We were going to rent our house and now we can't rent it," said Cindi Brower, adding that despite the hit she'll take on renting her home, the risk for spreading disease isn't worth the reward.

"What can you do," she asked. "You can't take that chance. It's more important to keep the elderly healthy — all of us healthy."

"I'm a little worried to see what it's going to be like not having this whole street just packed with cars, the whole freeway, just craziness around the whole valley," said Izzy Vega, assistant manager at Heirloom Craft Kitchen, a restaurant just a block from the Empire Polo Club.

He said when festival season usually hits in April, the line runs out the door of his shop.

Vega is now pushing back orders and hoping he can rely on regular customers to stay afloat through the slow summer season.

The county said the decision to call of the festivals next month wasn't made lightly, as the number of coronavirus cases continues to grow here at home. There are currently four positive cases within Riverside County, all here in the valley.

"When all of those (festival) folks are in one location, they're not going to be able to keep what we call social distancing from each other, which is about 6-8 feet," said Brooke Federico, public information officer with Riverside County.

With festival season now in in the fall, News Channel 3's chief meteorologist Haley Clawson broke down what the change means weatherwise.

"On average, October is warmer than April, but that's not always the case," Clawson said. "If we look back at 2019, April had 7 days that recorded a high temperature of 100 degrees or above, whereas October only had two."

Goldenvoice said refunds will be made available for those who can no longer attend the festivals. That information is expected to be released by the end of the week.

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