Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Hints at Possible 2021 Festival?

Could Hardly Strictly Bluegrass be making a comeback for 2021? 

In the last line of an email sent out to its mailing list around the same time that Mayor London Breed announced that San Francisco would be fully reopening on June 15th, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass wrote a lowkey statement that got us very excited by the possibilities,

“Please check back on our site in the coming weeks as we will have updates on HSB 2021.” – Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, 6/8/21

This is the first mention we’ve seen of any updates for 2021 since last year’s festival was canceled.

It’s not known exactly what this means and whether or not an in person festival will take place. “Updates” could mean a cancellation, an online festival, a reimagined smaller festival, or a full return to Golden Gate Park.

After 2020’s cancellation, Hardly Strictly announced in an aspiration statement that the next date would be October 1-3, 2021, But this date is currently only on the 2020 archive page and hasn’t yet been promoted by the festival for 2021 yet.

While the city plans on “fully” opening on June 15th, there are still some caveats and restrictions for “large-scale” outdoor events (10,000+) such as Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, but those restrictions haven’t yet been announced.

If Hardly Strictly Bluegrass does go ahead for 2021 it will be the second major festival to do so this year. Outside Lands is planned for October 29-31.

Stay tuned to hardlystrictlybluegrass.com for updates on whether or not the festival take place in 2021 and if so, what format it will be.

Our fingers are crossed!