Following one of the most unpredictable years in modern history, everyone is seeking some semblance of normalcy in 2021.
While the rush to get back to group events is understandable, and the vaccination process to administer COVID-19 shots is underway, it will still be up to event organizers to find a winning formula of safety, convenience and crowd control into the spring and summer of 2021.
The first such event to roll out a new format was the Bear Shadow music festival. Organizers unveiled a COVE seating arrangement late last week and the idea is already becoming the talk of the town.
The idea for COVE (controlled open-air viewing environment) seating is not new. Outdoor venues began experimenting with COVE seating at the onset of the pandemic last year, but the Bear Shadow is the first large scale event in Highlands to employ the practice. Groups of 6-8 people will be sat together in each COVE, which will be socially distanced from all adjacent COVEs.
In order to have enough room to accommodate the required amount of COVEs, the Bear Shadow had to be moved from Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park to Oakleaf Home Farm in Horse Cove. While moving the event outside of town might not be ideal, the farm is still within four miles of Main Street and offers enough space to host the inaugural event from April 23-25.
The goal for the festival is to grow into a spring compliment to the already popular Highlands Food and Wine Festival, held each November. The addition of a successful music festival in the spring would only add to Highlands already wide array of entertainment offerings and present another opportunity to drum up tourism business on the fringes of the summer season.
It remains to be seen if the Bear Shadow will be a success, but having an organizing group with the foresight to understand the realities of events in the current COVID-19 climate is a good place to start. Hopefully 2021 will allow the return of all of Highlands’ beloved events.