The organisers of Toogether Festival – which was due to take place in just short of 2 weeks time – have announced that the event will not go ahead this year.
Sandown Airport was set to host the festival between the 30th July and 1st August, but according to the team behind it, there is still too much risk caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The news comes despite the lift in Government restrictions, with the announcement being made on the official ‘Freedom Day’.
Organisers said:
“It is with a heavy heart that we, at Toogether, have today been forced to make the difficult decision to cancel this event. We have weighed up all options at this crucial point, and feel there is too much risk to proceed at this time of uncertainty. Sadly, as you are aware, each day there is an overwhelming increase in COVID cases, both on the Island and nationwide.
“Based on the safety of all of the team, performers, and you, our festival lovers, the rise of high positive cases, and crucially high isolation cases, weighs too heavily against us. This rise in isolations could result in acts and performers not being able to attend the event or us losing a whole team of critical services mid-event leaving the public at risk.
“Please know, that this decision has not been an easy one to make, but the safety of the team and the public must come first. Stay safe everyone and we hope to see you in the future.”
Let’s Hope that the other festival organisers follow suit. But we will see, as most put the lining of their pocket before Safety. And others are to up themselves to care for the public or the acts booked.
well iow festival wont cancel what eith greedy Giddings & council
Round of applause for putting public safety 1st and foremost , ….
Shame certain other individuals see ££££££££££££ first ….
Let’s hope the newly elected council see fit to take note of data not dates and be prepared to stop the island having an upsurge like when we moved from tier 1 to tier 4 in a v short time ……
Long covid is still causing problems with many …..
A sensible decision Thank you for putting the Isle of Wight first , come on Giddings follow the example you dont need the money .
Giddings should cancel, but he wont. He is all about greed, he doesn’t care about the locals, the chaos it causes in Newport or the strain it places the islands infrastructure under, roads, hospital, police etc, not to mention the noise for the people living nearby and not so nearby too. If he gets his way then 100,000 people will invade from not just the rest of the country, but from other countries, what a lovely spreader fest that will be for everyone. Do the right thing and hold off until next year.
People are very focused on cancelling festivals, probably correctly. But there was !40,000 at Silverstone on Sunday, 350,000 over the weekend, should this have happened based on the remarks re festivals?
Very true Ryde Reader, No it should not have gone ahead in such a way, trouble with the festival is 1000’s will converge in a very tightly packed group for days on end with poor hygiene, and a mountain of Alcohol, not to mention drugs, any good intentions will not exist very long, they will then circulate on a small island and then be crammed onto buses and ferries etc.
This is a disaster waiting to happen with a clueless government doing nothing, if the Council will or can not stop it directly then the organisers should if they have the slightest of moral fibre.
We all know the consequences of such stupid
Good just full of chavs and kids. Get back to the playground now.
The football wasn’t cancelled or the tennis. Bring back Raves and happy days , don’t bother with controlled festivals. It’s not about the money. It’s music sun and fun
I’m looking forward to the iow festival 🙂 We’ve already been back in the nightclubs and it’s great.
Corona will never go away even if we stay indoors for the next 4 years.
Get your Jab, Stop hiding and get on with your life.
I know that we had the footie with thousands of people going to the England game, we have the tennis with thousand of people going and the Grand Prix, but….. we are a small Island with one bloody Hospital, Yes to the comments it is all about making Money and not having a duty of care to us all that live here.
I thank Toogether for putting us first.
We could and I bet we will end up with an FESTIVIAL VARIENT of Covid, wait and see, after the weekend watch the cases rise, and before anyone says, but we have holiday makers at present, yes we do but this is going to be a gathering of 50.000 all together…. plus all the rest that get in!!!!!
Let’s see if all those who want folk to stop hiding, and encourage everyone to carry on as though nothing has happened or even out there, change their thoughts if their nearest and dearest get poorly.
Yes we do need to get back to some semblance of normality, but, there is nothing wrong with being cautious and respecting others ?