Springfield’s Route 66 Festival Cancelled; Covid Travel Restrictions Derail Loverboy Show

If you thought the coronavirus was done wreaking havoc with events, think again.

A popular festival in Springfield has been canceled as well as one of the major concerts at the Ozark Empire Fair.

According to KY3, Loverboy had to bow out of headlining the fair's grandstand show on the opening night of the fair, Thursday night, July 29. The band cited travel restrictions in their native Canada. A quick search of "Loverboy cancelled concerts July 2021" showed the group has cancelled other shows that were scheduled in the US this month.

Local bands Dr. Zhivegas, Sequel Dose and Members Only will headline the show instead. The fair told KY3 the band probably could have gotten around travel restrictions, out obviously decided not to do that. No other artist cancellations are expected.

Meanwhile, the City of Springfield cancelled the Birthplace of Route 66 Festival scheduled for  Friday, August 13 and Saturday, August 14 due to COVID-19 concerns. They also cancelled a concert kick off for Thursday, August 12.

Cora Scott, Director of Public Information & Civic Engagement for the City of Springfield and festival steering committee member said in a release, “With our region’s low vaccination rate against COVID-19, the resulting surge of infections are overwhelming our hospitals and making our community sick. We feel it is just not safe to bring tens of thousands of people from all over the world to this community for any reason.”

The City of Springfield suggests exploring local sections of Route 66 and local restaurants and retailers. Check out the public art around Route 66. Or take a virtual history trip along Route 66 by exploring an interactive story map put together by the City of Springfield.

The City will be holding socially distanced safe vaccination events in the festival space Friday, August 13 and Saturday, August 14.