25/03/2020
It was only a matter of time before this announcement came. With the corona virus, Covid-19, taking over more and more of every day life, events and Prides up and down the country have had no choice but to cancel or postpone their events. Now, Bristol Pride is the latest to join the list of events being held off until a later date.
In a statement on Facebook, the Bristol Pride team posted the following:
A message from all of us here at the Bristol Pride team:
July Festival Postponed
The Bristol Pride Team and Trustees have been carefully monitoring the ongoing developments with Covid-19 over the last few weeks and have been working on contingency plans for the festival. As well as the ongoing risks and uncertainty, and the decision today by Bristol City Council to cancel all outdoor events until the end of July, it may be of no surprise that we are faced with the decision to postpone this year’s festival.
As one of the largest pride events in the UK, every year thousands of people travel from all over the UK and overseas to attend the festival and given the current climate we feel this is the best decision based on venue closures, mitigating risk to public health, ongoing travel restrictions, reducing the pressure of blue lights agencies at this critical time.
We know this will be disappointing, BUT we are already working with the council, contractors and our performers to work on a date to deliver the festival later this year and we hope to be able to share a confirmed September date for the festival as soon as possible. The situation surrounding Covid-19 is evolving rapidly and we continue to monitor the situation closely.
This is an unprecedented time for us all. It’s a challenging situation for everyone, as people, as organisations and as businesses - especially the many small and independent businesses and artists that we work with to deliver an incredible Pride event. We feel that postponing the event and mitigating the risk of a full cancellation is the responsible thing to do and will help everyone’s planning and scheduling.
Please follow the advice issued by the Government and Public Health England. There will be varying needs of support to get through this crisis and all we can do is urge you to be kind, be there for each other and know that it’s OK not to be OK. If you need help or support reach out to loved ones and friends. Look after yourselves, look out for each other, reach out to friends and neighbours and act responsibly. If you would like to volunteer to support the council response to this epidemic then you can sign up online here: bit.ly/bristolcovid
Now, more than ever, we need to remember that we are all one global community and laid bare we can see we do all have more in common than sets us apart. We are all human.
Together we will get through this.
Stay well. With love and solidarity from all the team at Bristol Pride
Regular listeners will know that ShoutOut work very closely with Bristol Pride to ensure we cover the event live on air. We will make every effort too, to ensure that coverage still takes place when Bristol Pride returns.
