Two annual music festivals hosted by Vancouver Island’s Lake Cowichan were cancelled for the second year in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions from it. The Laketown Shakedown and Sunfest are the two festivals being mentioned.

Sunfest was supposed to happen from July 29th to August 1st this summer and was previously planned for July 30th to August 2nd, 2020. The 2020 lineup was supposed to feature Keith Urban, Jon Pardi, Chase Rice, Rodney Atkins, and Dallas Smith. Sunfest, in their cancellation announcement, said, “Let’s all keep doing our part during these final stages so we can get back to the normal we all miss so much.”

Which couldn’t be more valid words; now I’ve only gone to one concert before, which was Luke Bryan with Sam Hunt, Jon Pardi, and Carly Pearce, which was a fantastic concert. Since the pandemic has hit and we’ve been missing out on concerts, sporting events, and much more for the last 14-15 months. I wish I attended more concerts or music festivals, so guess who’s hitting up as many music festivals I can see next year (hint: he’s writing this article). But with that aside, if this lineup stays with who was supposed to perform in 2020 to next year when Sunfest hopefully goes as planned, I’ll definitely go to watch Jon Pardi.

The Laketown Shakedown was scheduled for July 1st to 3rd, 2021 but has now been rescheduled for June 30th to July 2nd, 2022. This year’s Shakedown was already rescheduled from 2020’s June 26th to 28th, which was set to feature the likes of rap legends Wu-Tang Clan (which is for the children), Ludacris, Third Eye Blind, and Nelly, to name a few. I’ll be honest, I have never heard of Laketown Shakedown, but I definitely would’ve like to attend with that lineup. In their announcement of the cancellation, they said, “we will announce our 2022 lineup when it is ready.”

We’re so close to concerts returning, and we just got to keep doing our part.