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Park City Song Summit Cancels For 2021

Park City Song Summit

After cancelling last year and many months of planning in 2021, Park City Song Summit organizers have made the difficult decision to pull the plug on this year’s event that was set to start in about a week. 

The news of Song Summit’s postponement came Tuesday morning. In a statement, Song Summit Founder Ben Anderson  said with hospital ICUs (Intensive Care Units) at 100% capacity, Summit County jumping to a high level of transmission, and the county matching its single day high for new positive COVID-19 cases, he didn’t think the event could be held safely.

“This is the statement I never wanted to write”, Anderson said, “but it’s what the current Covid climate has required us to do.”

Song Summit was canceled in 2020 – as nearly every other large event was as well. While it was looking better for 2021, Anderson said after countless conversations with top health officials, infectious disease experts, and local government, he didn’t think they could hold the event safely – even though the majority of it was going to be outdoors. Even with extensive precautions being taken, Anderson said it still wasn’t enough to overcome the risk of a dangerous COVID-19 spread.

Summit County Health Director Phil Bondurant knows it was a tough call for Anderson to make.

“Ben Anderson has been an absolute champion in this community," Bondurant said.  "He made a very tough decision yesterday in consultation with the health department and consultation with Park City Municipal, and then some other disease experts that he's been working with and. And that was a tough decision, and while we didn't direct Ben in any one direction, based on the information that he received from those different constituents and stakeholders, he made the decision, or him and his group made the decision to postpone, and I think that's really it's a pat on the back to Ben. It's a heroic effort, I know he struggled with the decision, obviously not because of COVID but because of the different commitments that were made, but ultimately he made the decision to err on the side of health of this community and he deserves to be commended for that.”

Song Summit is planning to reschedule the event for September  8-11 in 2022. Refunds will be issued within the next 14 business days. They recommend people follow Park City Song Summit on social media for the latest updates.

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