Dierks Bentley’s Seven Peaks Music Festival Canceled for 2021

Dierks Bentley‘s 2021 Seven Peaks Music Festival has been canceled. ”Current capacity restrictions put in place by local health officials” are to blame, per an Instagram post on the festival’s official account.

Seven Peaks organizers announced the news on Friday (July 9). Passes already purchased for the 2021 festival, which was set for Labor Day weekend (Sept. 3-5), will be fully refunded within 30 days.

“We are already planning for 2022, and a new location will be announced in the coming months,” the statement concludes. Fans are asked to “stay tuned for details.”

“I really could not be more bummed out about it,” Bentley says of the festival’s cancelation in an Instagram post of his own, noting that Chaffee County officials have opted not to lift capacity restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic just yet.

“Really appreciate you guys hanging in there with us through the ups and downs of COVID,” Bentley adds. “Together we built something very special, and it’s going to be a big celebration when our 7P family is together again.”

Bentley announced the return of Seven Peaks, which began in 2018 and is a partnership between the singer and Live Nation, in late May, and shared the 2021 lineup shortly thereafter. The festival was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since its inaugural year, the Seven Peaks Music Festival has taken place in Buena Vista, Colo., which is located in Chaffee County. The mountain town is about three and a half hours and two counties away from Mack, Colo., in Mesa County, the site of June’s Country Jam, after which 13 festivalgoers and four staff members were diagnosed with COVID-19, local news recently reported.

Colorado has one of the highest proportions of the Delta variant of the virus among all 50 states, though 42 percent of vaccine-eligible adults have gotten the shot, per the Denver Post. Still, officials worry the multi-day Country Jam could have accelerated the spread.