Why Departure Festival Canceled Hours Before Show Time – [Read]

Departure Festival was forced to cancel the slated 5 days of festivities, the day of.

The highly anticipated and hyped up Departure Festival, put on by Pollen, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, was slated to make it’s debut last weekend. In a perfect world, pre-COVID, it would have been a 5 day arrival at heaven’s gates for house and techno lovers. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to change and evolve and has forced mass cancellations of music festivals, shows, events, and many more things across the world. 

Departure Festival was going to be a brand new festival, making it’s debut with a mind-blowing lineup. Artists included Adam Beyer, Amelie Lens, Anabel Englund, Camelphat, and Lee Foss. Other industry elites slated to bring the house down were Nicole Moudaber, Nora En Pure, Peggy Gou, Solardo, and The Martinez Brothers, as well as a coveted live DJ set from techno legend Stephan Bodzin. 

Departure Festival also offered a robust variety of hotel packages and accommodations, all a short 5 minute walk to the venue. The Departure team has also been working around the clock since announcement in August to put out social media content on local places to dine, shop, and enjoy the local culture in Playa del Carmen, as well as curated artist playlists. 

Departure was also slated to include 3 custom built stages, curated by prestigious productions Brooklyn Mirage and Cityfox. After months of planning, and the last few weeks spent building the stages and venue for the festival, an hour before opening, Departure Festival cancelled its Day 1 festivities due to local permitting changes because of the worldwide spike in COVID-19 cases. 

The update to social media left festival goers angry and demanding answers as to whether the festival would continue at all, and inquiring about full refunds. Many were already there, out hundreds or thousands of dollars. The festival team then updated their social media the next morning, which would have been Day 2, stating that the festival was fully cancelled due to the Governor moving the state back into yellow-tier COVID restrictions, meaning an event of that size could not be held legally. 

Departure guests are being offered full refunds, as well as $200 credits to a future Pollen experience, and were notified that this would not affect their hotel bookings so they could continue their stays at the festival sponsored hotels. As unfortunate as this is, at least festival goers get an essentially free stay in Playa del Carmen, which is certainly a rare occurrence and a prime opportunity to maximize your stay in a beautiful, mesmerizing part of the world. 

This is another unfortunate occurrence in the era of COVID, forcing mass cancellations and frustration. If you’re attending events and travelling long distances to do so, please ensure you’re constantly checking local situations and restrictions to avoid such disasters. Stay safe!