Coachella Postponement Brings $700M Hit To Local Economy

Earlier this year, the organizers behind Coachella made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s event due to concerns over coronavirus. Now that the weekend has come and gone, the community is seeing the impact of Coachella’s absence.

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, one of the country’s largest music festivals, usually brings in around 100,000 people to Indio, California. The event was slated to kick-off this past weekend, followed by another weekend of the festival from April 17 to 19. Then, the valley would have continued the fun with the 2020 edition of country’s Stagecoach Music Festival the following weekend. However, the global pandemic has pushed back both festivals to October.

Coachella will now take place over two weekends in the fall: October 9, 10, and 11, and October 16, 17, and 18. Stagecoach will follow from October 23, 24, and 25.

According to the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, the local economy will lose about $700 million due to the absence of both festivals. Local restaurants and businesses that would normally flourish during this time are feeling the losses right now.

The manager of Mario’s Italian Cafe in La Quinta – just a block from the festival grounds at Empire Polo Club – told KESQ News Channel 3 that usually, the cafe would have “lines out the door.” Each year, the cafe, among other businesses in the surrounding area, depend on the crowds from Coachella.

“We’re doing takeout only and it’s just, it’s affected everybody dramatically here,” Dboracek said, noting that she hopes a decent amount of people will return in October to make up for the business they’re losing now.

According to the Desert Sun, many cities surrounding the Coachella Valley are dipping into robust reserves, which are created for emergencies.

The valley isn’t alone; concert cancellations have seriously effected the live entertainment industry as a whole. A new report from Pollstar shows that revenue from the industry could be down as much as $9 billion in 2020 — unparalleled from anything this country has experienced.

See our full, updating list of festivals postponed or cancelled due to coronavirus here.