If you got lucky in Milton’s wrath and need a wakeup call for just how serious the damage it caused was, Clearwater Jazz Holiday just canceled its entire four-day festival, which was set for this weekend.
Reps for the 44-year-old festival took to social media Sunday evening to make the announcement.
“In making this difficult decision, we have explored every option to continue the 45-year festival tradition. Many factors contributed to the cancellation including critical operational and support services, accessibility of important infrastructure and materials, power outages, and other important considerations,” the statement read.
“The decision to cancel is heart wrenching and devastating to our organization, which relies on the festival income as its largest program service to support Clearwater Jazz Holiday Foundation’s mission of year-round music, education & outreach in schools, neighborhood family centers and other organizations and to support young and local musicians.”
Refunds will be made available to ticket holders in the coming days, with an additional option to support the foundation—which facilitates music education in the Bay area—in lieu of a refund.
The festival’s return to its roots has been a slow one. Last year, following a long few years at Clearwater’s BayCare Ballpark, Clearwater Jazz Holiday came home to Coachman Park, with main acts taking the stage at The BayCare Sound (then known as The Sound).
This year’s rendition, which was scheduled to feature the likes of pop-rock pianist Bruce Hornsby (a replacement for Sierra Ferrell who dropped out over the summer), and gospel legend Mavis Staples. Soul outfit St. Paul and the Broken Bones, was supposed to play The Green, the grassy, field-like area stage-right of the amphitheatre, as a tribute to the festival’s origins.
This is the second year since its inception in 1980 where Clearwater Jazz has been axed, the first being in 2020 due to COVID-19.
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This article appears in Oct 10-16, 2024.