REGINA -- Country Thunder Craven will not go ahead in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Organizers say the event has been postponed to 2021.

“We want to thank all the fans in Saskatchewan for their patience, loyalty and enthusiasm as we navigated details for next summer. We look forward to delivering the kind of world-class experience that the greatest country music fans anywhere have come to expect,” Country Thunder Saskatchewan CEO Troy Vollhoffer said in a news release.

Anyone who purchased tickets will receive more information in the next few days.

“We had to kind of face facts after doing all of our homework and make this decision and now it’s our job to look forward to 2021 and having the best festival we can,” said Gerry Krochak, Country Thunder’s director of marketing and media relations.

Other options were considered like holding it the fall, similar to what Country Thunder is doing for some of its American festivals. But Krochak says it still left them with too many unknowns like if large gatherings would be allowed by that point and the weather factor.

Country Thunder says any tickets from 2020 will be automatically honoured for the new dates in 2021.

Kate Krupski planned on attending the festival this year but says she saw the writing on the wall with whether or not it would go ahead in light of the pandemic.

“I kind of saw it coming, I was a little disappointed but it’s probably for the best considering the circumstances especially,” Krupski said.

Details on the 2021 lineup are expected on June 12.