However, the organisers of the festival have said they feel comfortable announcing that events can run in 2021 after the beginning of the roll out of a mass vaccination programme, which they say can be used in conjunction with social distancing plans they have already devised in the summer to ensure that the events can take place in the summer of 2021.

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A post shared by Stendhal Festival (@stendhalireland)

The first of these events will take place on the 9th and 10th of July 2021 and the second will be on August 12th, 13th and 14th. While we don’t have a lineup yet, tickets are now available. There will be a mixture of 1,500 general and family tickets have been made available for the first weekend, organisers have said they hope they can scale up to 3,000 in the coming months. The second event in August will initially only sell 500 tickets, this is to accommodate those who had tickets to the 2020 festival and will be carrying over their ticket to the new dates.

Director of Stendhal Festival, Ross Park Hill spoke about the news in a statement saying; “It’s been a really tough year, we don’t have to tell anybody that because every one has been in somewhat of the same boat. That said, the entertainment and events industry have probably seen the biggest hits brought on by the pandemic, so we are quite simply delighted to have been able to navigate our way through 2020 and still be in a position to run events next year.”

He then went on to say; “I’d like to take the opportunity to again publicly thank those patrons who rolled over their tickets from 2020 to 2021, they are a one of the main reasons we survived 2020 and are in a position to re-launch the festival in 2021.”

“In that vain I’d also like to thank all the organisations that have supported us through the pandemic including Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, Help Musicians NI and The Arts Council of Northern Ireland. We are so excited by the prospect of welcoming people back to the farm and we can’t wait to be able to once again deliver all the music, arts and creativity that Stendhal is known for. We guarantee it will be worth the wait.”

Stendhal 10.
August 6th, 7th,8th, 2020.
Gather friends and celebrate.#tenyearsofstendhal#lovestendhal pic.twitter.com/f33lnjR0ME

— Stendhal Festival (@Stendhalireland) September 27, 2019

The organisers of Stendhal Festival tried to organise the first ever socially distanced music festival in August called Unlocked, which would have been a series of weekends that would have showcased artists from the island of Ireland, while adhering to the social distancing guidelines. Unfortunately, the event also had to be cancelled because of an rise in cases in Northern Ireland.

Tickets for The Stendhal Festival are available here.

The announcement, on Stendhal Festival’s Instagram says; “Expect special performances from some of the very best talent the island of Ireland has to offer, beer gardens, delicious food and perhaps best of all, over 20 acres of outdoor scenic countryside to enjoy.”

The event will take place in Ballymully Cottage Farm in Limavady. The two confirmed weekends so far will be August 21st-22nd and August 28th-29th. The organisers hope that the festival could be spanned over five weekends in August and September, but for now only these weekends are confirmed. The event will hold between five hundred and a thousand people per day.

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Live music outdoors? Stendhal Festival presents: Unlocked. A series of weekends focussed on freedom at Ballymully Cottage Farm, Limavady. Expect special performances from some of the very best talent the island of Ireland has to offer, beer gardens, delicious food and perhaps best of all, over 20 acres of socially distant outdoor scenic countryside to enjoy. Subject to licence. More info coming very soon. @leoboydprints #lockdown #irishmusic #causewaycoastandglens #northernireland #discoverireland #goplayoutside #exploremore #niexplorer #summervibes #newmusic

A post shared by Stendhal Festival (@stendhalireland) on Jun 22, 2020 at 11:30am PDT

Festival director Ross Parkhill has said in a statement: “We are confident that we have come up with an event plan that will make going to outdoor music events safer than going to the supermarket. We will be liaising with the local council, the police, fire service and ambulance service to ensure that we have covered every possible eventuality and how it could relate to social distancing and health and safety.”

The organisers have stressed how important is to make sure everyone follows the social distancing rules along with the other measures they have put in place, in order for the event to run smoothly. The rules are as follows:

1. Camp plots will be 8m x 8m in size and only two people can stay in each tent.
2. Festival goers will have to maintain a 2m distance, unless the government shorten it to 1m.
3. There will also be a daily limit on the amount of alcohol consumed. Drinks will be purchased using drink tokens and people will be limited to between six and eight drinks a day, as social distancing will be harder to maintain if people are drunk.
4. Toilets will be cleaned after every use.
5. There will be temperature checking stations at every entry point to the event.
6. There will also be a medical isolation tent in case someone develops symptoms while at the event.

The event is subject to chance, depending on the government guidelines. No acts have been confirmed just yet, but are expected over the next few days. Tickets to the first two confirmed weekends will go on sale this Saturday 4th of July.

For more information see: www.stendhalfestival.com/unlocked/