Florida’s Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam Bumped to 2022 Over Rising Covid Cases
The Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam was among the first major music festivals to return since the onset of the pandemic. But while the June installment of the multi-day country-music festival in Panama City Beach, Florida, went off without a hitch, the Gulf Coast Jam planned for Labor Day has been postponed until 2022.
A statement on the festival website reads: “Due to the ongoing public health emergency caused by the current growth of Covid-19 cases in Bay County, Florida and across the country, the 9th Annual Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam, scheduled for September 3-5, 2021, in Panama City Beach, has been moved to June 3-5, 2022.”
Already purchased tickets will be honored at next year’s festival, but refunds are also available for those who choose. A message on the event’s website adds that organizers “encourage everyone to follow guidelines and protocols instituted by local public health officials,” but stops short of suggesting fans receive one of the three available Covid-19 vaccines, which health experts universally recommend as a sure and safe way out of the pandemic.
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The lineup for the 2022 Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam has not been announced. Chris Stapleton, Old Dominion, and Brooks & Dunn were scheduled to headline the Labor Day weekend installment.
Lynyrd Skynyrd and Brad Paisley headlined June’s Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam. Skynyrd has since canceled a number of shows after the band’s guitarist Rickey Medlocke tested positive for Covid-19.
Florida is currently under siege from the Delta variant of the coronavirus. On Friday, the state reported 23,903 new cases, its highest single-day total since the pandemic began.
