Music Festivals Create Their Own ‘Bubbles’ to Get Partiers Back Out
Two-stage Covid-19 testing is being piloted as a strategy to safely reopen the live events sector.
Utopia organizer Jake Resnicow, center, poses with performers Christi Spice, left, and Mio Hakuri during his Labor Day weekend festival.
Source: UTOPIAfest
A 200-strong coterie of mostly men gathered in the Poconos Mountains earlier this month to engage in what some regard as this pandemic era’s ultimate taboo: a bacchanalian party. The Utopia music festival took place over the Labor Day holiday weekend (Sept. 4-7) in Pennsylvania, where open-air gatherings are currently capped at 250 people.
The event also served as a potential new model for the future: All attendees were screened with a Covid-19 test a few days before the event—and again at the door—in an effort to create an event “bubble.”