Greenwich Town Party Cancelled Due To Coronavirus

GREENWICH, CT — A little over a month after announcing this year's Greenwich Town Party would be postponed, organizers said Thursday the 2020 event has been cancelled in light of the new coronavirus. The event, which was set to celebrate its 10th anniversary this year, was originally scheduled to take place Memorial Day weekend before being pushed back to August last month.

In addition to the cancellation, organizers announced the date for next year's town party: May 29, 2021.

The annual event typically attracts thousands to Roger Sherman Baldwin Park and features Grammy Award-winning musicians and fan-favorite local bands. Previous years' lineups featured Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Beach Boys, Eric Clapton and Paul Simon. Mumford & Sons and Zac Brown Band were announced as the 2020 headliners back in December.

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Event officials said the decision to cancel this year came "after much deliberation and working closely with the first selectman's office and local health officials" in light of the current health situation.

"The health and wellness of our community is our top priority, and there are just too many unknown variables at this time," Town Party Co-President Ray Rivers said in a statement. "Even though this decision comes with great disappointment for all of us, we are looking forward to next year when we can all come together again in celebration."

Event officials said they are "already working on an outstanding musical line-up" for 2021, which will be announced later this year.

All GTP 2020 tickets will be transferred to next year's event, officials said. All current ticket holders are encouraged to save the date. No further action is required for current ticket holders who plan to attend next year's event, but any ticket holder who cannot attend the 2021 event will be issued a full refund.

Once refund logistics are secured in the coming weeks, organizers will email each ticket buyer instructions on how to process that request, officials said.

"We are grateful to GTP organizers for creating an event that brings the community together to celebrate town pride every year," First Selectman Fred Camillo said in a statement. "We collaborated with the non-profit and it was determined that in the interest of public health and safety, the best course of action this year is to cancel GTP 2020."

The town party typically honors the Greenwich community through the annual GTP Heroes program, and organizers encourage residents and businesses to nominate unsung heroes who are giving back during these unprecedented times. The town party will then highlight these submitted heroes on its website and social media.

One hundred heroes will be randomly selected to receive a pair of community tickets for the 2021 party, officials said.

"As always, we appreciate everyone's generous support and endless enthusiasm for the Greenwich Town Party," Rivers said. "Next year, we will have even more reason to celebrate together."