MACARTHUR’S Music in the Vines Festival has been postponed with a new date set for February 2023.

The festival’s committee held an emergency meeting late last week to discuss the impact the Omicron outbreak in the region may have on the event.

Music in the Vines president, Pieter Badenhorst said the festival’s success was heavily reliant on external groups, including volunteers, contractors, and food vendors.

Mr Badenhorst said the committee felt strongly that if any of them pulled out, it would negatively impact the experience of festivalgoers.

“So, our biggest concern with the festival is obviously the cases in the region are spiking and lots of people in the community are getting symptoms and getting sick,” he said.

“One of our key considerations was ensuring we don’t become a super spreader event.

“We had such enormous response from people to come to this event – we’re really devastated, but community safety is front of mind, and we hope to see that same uptake next year.”

Mr Badenhorst said the committee decided to postpone last Friday and has since worked tirelessly to book in all the headline acts for the new date.

While the committee had considered pushing the festival back by a few months, it was decided the weather would not be suitable for the outdoor event – instead, settling on the same weekend next year.

“We’ve been working hard over the weekend to talk to all the musicians currently in the festival to see if they can headline on the next date, February 4, 2023.

 “Because we have a fairly similar line up, we’ve basically given patrons the option to retain their tickets or get a full refund as well.”