Highlands Festivals, Inc., the organization that produces the Highlands Food & Wine Festival, announced today that its fall event originally scheduled for November is cancelled due to social distancing guidelines regarding COVID-19. However, Highlands Festivals, Inc. has scheduled a music festival to be held in Highlands in spring 2021, with several of the same musicians on the roster.
“While this was a difficult decision, it is in the best interest of the community to cancel the fall event,” says Casey Reid, partner of Eleven Events and Festival Director. “The health and safety of our ticket holders, staff, vendors, and the residents of Highlands continue to be our top priorities. We were looking forward to celebrating the festival’s 5th anniversary with some special nods to those who have helped make it one of the most anticipated events in western North Carolina. Now, we are just as excited to turn our focus to the spring event as an opportunity to bring the community together again for a one-of-a-kind celebration of the culture of the Blue Ridge Mountains.”
The spring event, dubbed Bear Shadow, is a music festival that refers to the bear-like shadow that appears behind the region’s Whiteside Mountain, will be held on April 23-25, 2021. Many of the same musicians that were scheduled to perform at the Highlands Food & Wine Festival this fall are now scheduled for the spring event, including Mandolin Orange, Jamestown Revival, Love Canon, St. Paul & The Broken Bones and The War And Treaty.
In lieu of the Fall Festival being cancelled, current ticket holders have three options:
1. Tickets can be rolled over to the Bear Shadow Music Festival. Day One ticket holders will have access to Saturday, April 24; Day Two holders will have access to Sunday, April 25.
2. Receive a full refund.
3. Donate ticket purchases to Highlands Festivals, Inc. (a 501c3 organization), helping to bring future programming while promoting the Town of Highlands, N.C.
Ticket holders can begin submitting requests for the above options beginning Sep. 16. All requests must be made by email to info@highlandsfoodandwine.com by Sept. 30. If ticket holders do not request one of the above options by Sept. 30, tickets will automatically roll over to the Bear Shadow Music Festival.
