Canada's longest-running music festival is taking another year off due to COVID-19.

 This year's edition of Dauphin's Countryfest will not go on. General manager Rob Waloschuk explains the decision.

"No one would have ever thought that a second-year (of the pandemic) would come around. We were trying really hard to make it all happen, and as things progressed, and our consultations with the province and health officials figuring out what this summer was going to look like, we needed some answers fairly soon," says Waloschuk. "With those consultations, we concluded this summer is still going to be difficult to pull off an event like we're used to having in Dauphin."

The 2020 edition would have been headlined with high calibre acts such as the Hunter Brothers, Dean Brody, Dallas Smith, and Trace Adkins among others.Waloschuk says they've already started preparing for next year, including signing headliners.

"Johnny Reid is already signed, and there are a couple of others in the works, which we're announcing quite soon. We are looking forward to next year because we know it's going to be an epic year, and we're making plans," says Waloschuk. "We're going to have different capacities, and we're going to have various things that are going to be changed, but all in the betterment of making it a fun and great place to be again."

The annual festival draws around 10,000 patrons and takes over 1,300 volunteers to pull off. Waloschuk says he's grateful for the outpouring of support.

"There's a lot of people who are leaving their tickets in for next year again too and first of all, we want to thank them. So, we're coming up with some great ideas and perks to thank them like special shows just for them, some special things, like getting in early," says Waloschuk. "We want to thank those people for sure, and the people who are anxious to get their tickets again, we'll be putting them on sale soon."  

Dauphin's Countryfest will hopefully return July 1 – 3, 2022.