Smithwicks Kilkenny Roots Festival 2020 CANCELLED (update)

John Cleere, director of the Smithwicks Kilkenny Roots Festival, announces on the Festival website:

We regret that, following discussions between organisers and sponsors, we have had to cancel Smithwick’s Kilkenny Roots Festival 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic is still far from reaching its peak and we feel that to safeguard audiences, venue workers, technical crews, volunteers, and artists, this is the only option open to us. Keep safe.

The act most likely to have attracted BIB readers in this year's lineup was North Carolina's Chatham County Line. The Festival Facebook announces that refunds will be given for tickets, but that this may take time. Several responses to this news favour the idea (as proposed by the Baltimore Fiddle Fair) of passing the money on to the artists.

Update: Chatham County Line announce on their online tour schedule:

We're presently observing some social distancing folks. We hope to return to the stage as soon as we can but in the meantime please keep your eyes on our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook feeds for information on live streams and other hopefully good news.

The schedule now shows no dates before the beginning of June - except that their Facebook displays their gig at the Bühl Bluegrass Festival in Germany in mid-May, and Bühl's Facebook at present gives no indication of any change in plans.

Update 23 Mar.: It has now been officially announced that the 18th Bühl Bluegrass Festival has been postponed to 14-15 May 2021.