ROANOKE, Va – Roanoke’s GO Fest typically draws in crowds by the thousands. While that can’t happen this year because of the pandemic, organizers are taking new preventative measures to make sure the show can go on.
Temperature checks, mask requirements and COVID-19 screenings will all be required to enter certain GO Fest activities. Thursday staff members spent the day setting up for the weekend-long festival to celebrate the love of the outdoors.
“A lot of people look forward to it all year long and we do too as event organizers and people who are really trying to connect the community,” Events Director for Roanoke Outside Foundation Julia Boas.
One of the main events is a socially distant concert series with the goal of raising $100,000 for Project Outside. Organizers hope the new socially distant protocols will set a standard industry-wide.
“We do have a pretty serious safety protocol because we wanted to make sure that if we were going to do this we were going to do it right and almost set a gold standard for if people were going to proceed with events like this,” Boas said.
Only six people will be allowed in the socially distant placed pods to enjoy the concerts, which is something staff members hope will bring the community together.
“That’s something that humans are always going to want to do is gather together we just know we need to do it in a safe way and this is the safest way we got right now,” Chief Operating Officer Across the Way Productions Sam Calhoun said.
At the end of the day, the GO Fest team is just happy to be able to host an event this year and help give back to the community.
“For us to be able to do this and raise this money at least we can take something not so positive and make something great out of it,” Boas said.
Tickets for pods at the concert on are sale through midnight Thursday, if you are interested you can visit its website here.