MYRTLE BEACH, SC(WBTW) – Organizers for the 2020 Carolina Country Music Festival say the festival will be rescheduled from June until September due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The festival was set for June 4-7 at Burroughs and Chapin Pavilion Place and has rescheduled for September 17-20 “as a precaution for artists, staff, attendees and the entire Myrtle Beach community due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” organizers say. “All previously purchased tickets and parking passes will still be honored for the rescheduled dates.”

Festival organizers say the tickets are non-refundable, but have set up a Facebook group for people who want to sell theirs to someone else.

Heather Burns, a hairstylist from Upstate New York, was supposed to make the trip to Myrtle Beach for CCMF, but now says she won’t be able to afford coming in September.

“It’s just financially not going to happen,” Burns said. “I don’t even know how I’m going to pay my rent the next couple of months.”

Burns rents a booth at a salon and says she can’t make money without working and all salons in New York were ordered to close on March 21st.

Burns says she and others in her position need a refund to help them pay bills during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

“I’m single, I have a lot of bills and no money coming in, and my monthly bills are between $2,500 and $3,000, and it’s kind of hard to think about the near future knowing that I’m not getting any income coming in,” Burns explained.

Sarah Jarrett, a second grade teacher in the Lowcountry says she and a fellow teacher were looking forward to CCMF after a stressful school year and adapting to teaching their students online.

“We were like, “Okay we can get through this online learning because we have that to look forward to at the end of,” it and the longer this went on, I was like well it’s very doubtful, “” Jarrett said.

Jarrett says she won’t be able to make the September dates because she hopes schools are back in session.

“College kids are going back to school, everyone is going back to work. I don’t teach the first week of June so I was like this is great I don’t even have to worry about taking off,” Jarrett said.

Jarrett and Burns both say they understand why CCMF is postponed, but hope organizers reconsider offering refunds.

“Looking and seeing what other festivals have been doing, I know a couple have pushed back and a couple have canceled,” Jarrett said. “I really think that for certain circumstances for teachers or college students those type of things, they should grant those refunds because they are going to sell out those tickets anyway.”

In the meantime, they both plan to try to sell their tickets.

“I’m going to try to re-sell and see if there is someone willing to take their odds right now and see what September is going to look like,” Jarrett said.

Artists that will perform on the reschedule dates include Luke Combs, Eric Church, Jake Owen and Darius Rucker.

John Pardi, Mitchell Tennpenny and Maddie and Tae are unable to make the rescheduled dates.

Other artists set to join the rescheduled festival include Lauren Alaina, Jordan Davis, Joe Nichols, Davisson Brother and Warrick McZeke.

Joe Diffie, who was set to perform at the festival on its originally scheduled June dates, died on Sunday, March 29, from complications of coronavirus (COVID-19).

“CCMF plans to keep Diffie’s spot on the lineup for a tribute for the award-winning icon.,” organizers say.

“We are grateful for the collaboration from all involved who have worked with us tirelessly to reschedule CCMF for September,” says Bob Durkin, president of Carolina Country Music Fest. “Working to move this year’s festival to the fall was uncharted territory for all involved, including artists, their management, local government officials and the Myrtle Beach community. We appreciate everyone’s flexibility and we are excited that we will still be able to have CCMF this year.” 

In a statement to News13, Karen Riordan, President and CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce said, “While we are disappointed that CCMF won’t take place as scheduled this summer, we understand and support the organizer’s decision to postpone in these uncertain times. We look forward to welcoming CCMF in September!”

Myrtle Beach Mayor, Brenda Bethune said, “The City of Myrtle Beach is so grateful for the relationship we have with the entire CCMF team.  I believe that this year’s event will be the biggest and best yet. Like all communities, Myrtle Beach has been severely impacted by COVID-19 and being able to come out of this crisis to celebrate this festival in September will be exactly what our City and our business community needs to recover.  This is further proof of CCMF’s commitment to our community and I look forward to welcoming them back!”

For more information, visit CCMF’s website here and to visit the resale Facebook group, click here.

Count on News13 for updates.

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