Pharrell's Something In The Water Festival Cancelled Over Coronavirus

Something In The Water Festival will not be held next month amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

The Pharrell Williams-curated bash was originally set to take over Virginia Beach April 24-26 but is now pushed back to 2021 amid a string of festival cancellations due to the spread of COVID-19.

“After much consideration, in partnership with the City of Virginia Beach, we’ve sadly decided to postpone Something In The Water 2020,” organizers shared in a statement. “We will return April 23-25, 2021 as part of our normal annual schedule. All tickets for 2020 will be honored for next year’s festival. Purchasers will be notified by Friday, March 20th on how to obtain a refund if they are unable to attend.”

The festival had nabbed an impressive slate of music stars to take part in its second edition, including Usher, Post Malone, Migos, Foo Fighters, Chance The Rapper, A$AP Rocky, Brittany Howard and Pharrell.

Something In The Water also faced an unexpected schedule change last year during its inaugural run. The weekend’s festivities were delayed one day due to inclement weather, though the remainder of the festival went on without issue. Despite the setback to its 2020 edition, Pharrell and festival organizers are keeping the bash’s focus on community at the forefront of their work.

“Please use this time to keep building, creating, and progressing,” the festival’s statement reads. “The SITW team certainly will. There are a number of timely community-centric displays of goodwill that we are working hard to ensure still happen this April – things like the planting of a new school garden, public art, SITW Restaurant Week and more.”

Something In The Water joins SXSW, Ultra Music Festival and more which have been called off amid the ongoing concerns over the coronavirus. Meanwhile, others are forging forward with rescheduled dates later in the year, including J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival, Coachella and Stagecoach.

Photo via Something In The Water Festival / @sitw