Folk on the Rocks starts selling 2021 early-bird tickets

Yellowknife’s Folk on the Rocks has launched early-bird sales of tickets for its July 2021 festival, promising refunds if the event is cancelled.

A planned 40th-anniversary edition of the music festival was scrapped in 2020 over concerns about Covid-19 and with travelling musicians facing two weeks of mandatory isolation had they entered the territory to perform.

“We don’t know exactly what Folk On The Rocks will look like this year, but we do know that our dedicated team is committed to making it happen one way or another,” festival organizers said on Friday.

“This is an opportunity for us to tune in to our creativity and host a festival like never before.”

Early-bird rates are $135 for an adult weekend pass, $90 for an adult day pass, and $330 for a family weekend pass including two adults and two youth or seniors.

A reduced ticket price is available on application for people financially impacted by the pandemic.

How the pandemic health picture will look in the NWT more than six months from now is entirely unclear. A vaccine may or may not have been rolled out by that point, and festival staff have no way of knowing whether the territory’s travel restrictions will still exist.

“We get that, you, our beloved audience may be hesitant to buy tickets right now, not knowing what the future holds,” organizers said.

“Because of that, we’ve updated our ticketing policy for this year. In the unlikely event we do have to postpone due to Covid-19, our audience being compensated is important to us.”

The festival’s ticket policy now states refunds will be available “in light of festival cancellation or other force majeure scenarios.”

The 2021 festival is scheduled to take place from July 16-18. Organizers have previously said they intend to try to rebook many acts initially lined up for the 2020 edition.

Early-bird tickets are available until May 9, 2021.