This news coming directly from the Wasteland Weekend website itself, this is no rumor! There will be no self-created apocalypse during the real “apocalypse” that we are currently referring to as COVID-19. The annual Mad Max-ian celebration of all things post-apocalyptic had been looking forward to it’s 11th installment this September, but then the pandemic happened and all eyes had been keeping a close eye on what the event would do. Just last month, Burning Man made the decision to cancel their annual August event.
Many people had been holding out hope that the nearly week-long event would still be able to happen in 2020. However after internal discussions and consulting state and regional guidance, they made the challenging call to put off the event until 2021. Even with it being several months away, the ongoing open questions around large-gathering events were making it increasingly unfeasible. Making the call now gives attendees, vendors, and staff the ability to pivot their planning towards ’21 now, with more advance notice, rather than waiting for a possible last-minute cancellation.
We are all living in strange, unprecedented times. Our world has changed over the last couple of months, and while it is a temporary disruption, it is a significant one.
Adam and I have been in frequent discussions with each other as this global crisis has unfolded. The environment that we are living in has changed significantly, each week, and sometimes on a daily basis. There are many unknowns in relation to the long term arc of the Covid-19 virus. Just a month ago, we would have thought that the prospects of having to delay or cancel Wasteland Weekend 2020 in September were remote. We know more now than we did then. We’ve spent a significant amount of time keeping up with current reports, consulting with experts in epidemiology, medical professionals, and our peers in the live event world, for an informed, responsible way forward.
This has been a difficult decision for us make, but we believe for the safety of our fellow Wastelanders, it is the right one.
Wasteland Weekend for 2020 is cancelled.
We know that this decision will be disappointing, even heartbreaking for many of you. It is for us as well. Wasteland has been a major part of our lives for the past 10 years. The prospect of a year without Wasteland Weekend is hard to get our heads around. The Wasteland experience is part of our lives, and we know it will be difficult for those of you who were really looking forward to a celebration with the Wasteland family.
We have continued to follow the best available guidance from the state of California, as well as agencies such as the CDC. Currently, the state of CA is still under stay at home orders. Those orders may be slowly relaxed over the Summer, but the prospects of a large in-person event such as ours being allowed in September are now looking very low, and the calendar is against us. While we were prepared to hold the event with less prep time than we have had in previous years, there are limits to how close we can cut it, and the time remaining for us to build with our crews, recruit volunteers and performers, handle permits, and do all of the other work needed for our event is quickly running out. We also understand that some of you need to make travel plans well in advance of the event.
Ultimately, we must follow a course of action that is safest for our Wasteland family, and provides certainty that the event will not have to be postponed again at the last minute.
So what happens now?
ALL tickets purchased for Wasteland Weekend 2020 will be fully-refunded. Beginning immediately.
You can check the tickets page on our website for more details on how all of that will work. It may take some days for refunds to show up for you, depending on what payment method you used.
Tickets for the NEXT Wasteland Weekend in September of 2021 will go on sale, in just a few days at www.wastelandweekend.com/tickets We sincerely hope that you will consider purchasing your ticket for 2021. Having funds to work with now will help us navigate this very difficult time. We have always prioritized putting money back into the event, year after year, so that it could grow and improve into something we could all be proud of.
Not having our event this year represents a huge emotional and financial sacrifice for us personally. We are not asking anyone for donations, but we are hoping that you will choose to buy your ticket for 2021, if you are able, as a vote of confidence in the future of Wasteland. We’re in this for the long haul.
As the months go by we will be exploring ways to keep this community connected online. As stay-at-home restrictions ease, it may be possible for smaller groups of us to get together casually in person. We will certainly be missing seeing all of your faces, even more than we currently do.
Some of you may be wondering about our other event, Neptropolis. We will be making a separate announcement for that event on our Neotropolis social media and the Neotropolis website.
This was definitely not the dystopia that we were all expecting, but hopefully it will be a short one, and we can get back to playing the end of the world that we all know and love.
– Jared & Adam
They have nothing but the attendees in mind and will be giving refunds starting “immediately.” Tickets for the 2021 edition of Wasteland Weekend will be going on sale, in just a few days via their website.
They include more information as well as a Q&A on their site. This is a huge blow to many as people from all over the world do turn up for this specific event. Today’s times seem to have cancelled all of 2020 and we do appreciate our health and safety ultimately. Can’t say we won’t mourn the Wastes of ’20 though.
Cover Photo courtesy of Wasteland Weekend
