GABBF

News release

With COVID -19 pandemic cases continuing to increase and in accordance with state guidance on large gatherings, the Great American Brass Band Festival’s Board of Directors are saddened to announce that the 31st annual festival will be postponed until June 2021. The festival was originally scheduled June 4-7, 2020, scaled-down and rescheduled to July 25, and then moved again to the weekend of Sept. 12.

However, the board made its final decision on Tuesday to cancel any 2020 events, and instead postpone until the scheduled 2021 date of June 10-13. It was a difficult decision to make and many factors were carefully weighed, but the safety and concern for the community, volunteers, musicians, and staff was of utmost importance in the end, said festival assistant director Missy Angolia, in a news release.

Chairman Patrick McClure expressed his sadness that for the first time in over three decades there would be no festival to celebrate all that the event has come to mean to Danville and the surrounding counties. 

“My friend, Alex McCrosky, often says ‘we may not win every game, but we ain’t never lost a party’, but today I feel like we kind of did. COVID-19 won this one. Our respect for our sponsors, and our commitment to our musicians led us to postpone twice in the hopes of improvement in the situation for all of us, not just for the festival but for our Commonwealth. But those same sponsors, and our board, have the utmost concern for the most vulnerable among us, the ever changing landscape of what any kind of group event might look like, and just basic common sense in light of the recent numbers in Kentucky and throughout the nation. Given what has happened, the show simply cannot go on…this year,” McClure said.

“However, I know that with the energy already building for a time when we can again come together to do this right, in a way befitting our traditions and spotlighting new ideas and music, we will make the 2021 event one that should be something to remember. We have the people, the community support, and the dedication to ensure that this is just a postponement to better and brighter things to come.”

“As the incoming executive director, I am disappointed that I won’t get my first festival under my belt until next year, however this is the right decision to make with such uncertainty at this time,” Angolia said. “I would like to thank all of the sponsors for their continued support, and will be reaching out to them, as well as other key-event coordinators in the upcoming weeks.”

The Great American Brass Band Festival is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 1990. For more information, or sponsorship and donation opportunities, visit www.gabbf.org