Treefort Music Festival delayed until 2021 – Idaho Press-Tribune

Still, it was a hard choice, Gilbert said. “It’ll be two-and-a-half years since our last festival. That’s pretty crazy. For eight years, it grounded our actions. Putting on our event galvanizes the community.”

It’s a hit for many small businesses — retail, restaurants, bars, lodging accommodations — and the more than 25 downtown Boise venues, 500 bands and about a dozen forts (Yogafort, Foodfort, Kidfort, Hackfort, Comedyfort, to name a few). The event was expected to bring more than $10 million to Boise and the Treasure Valley — in 2018 an estimate prepared by the Boise Convention and Visitors Bureau said the event brought in $10.9 million, according to a March 2019 Idaho Press story. There are about 130 full- and part-time staff during the festival; 10 year-round. There are also about 1,200 volunteers.

“We had a lot of people begging us not to cancel, but at the same time, we had the science telling us it wasn’t going to work,” Gilbert said.

He’s hoping that moving the event so far into the future will provide the time and space for the pandemic to subside — for the medical community to be able to provide treatments, cures and a vaccine.

“Where things are at right now, it just didn’t make sense to (hold the festival),” he said. “I’m hopeful that in a year from now, we’ll be able to safely do it for an event as dynamic and big as ours. We’re hoping then, as a society, we’ll start managing this pandemic better and events of this scale can come back.”

After the next Treefort scheduled in September 2021, the festival will move back to its regular calendar slot, set for March 23-27, 2022. “So, we’ll be planning both events at the same time,” Gilbert said.

Even through such stormy times, Gilbert said there have been a few bright spots. “I have a 6-year-old daughter; the presence of a silver lining is being able to spend more time with her and my wife, going out into the wild more.” His daughter, Vera, he said misses Treefort, too. “But she likes having her daddy around.”

Gilbert said he and the Treefort team have also been focused on “trying to help the whole ecosystem come back, the small businesses and the venues. To help our entire community get back. To help build a music scene for the creative people and create a dynamic where they can live and work from here. And that’s the case for when this passes.”

Treefort has been able to keep staff on board thanks to a Paycheck Protection Program loan. “It’s helped a little bit,” he said. “It helped keep the year-round staff. And we did pay our contractors.” But now, it’s running out, he said. The nonprofit has been huddled up, brainstorming what to do next, and Gilbert said they will be announcing a crowd source funding plan in the coming days.

“There will be options for ticket holders on our website next week, including opportunities to help support Treefort going forward,” he said.

Gilbert reflected on how difficult it was to make the initial decision in March to move the event to September. The entire Treefort team watched as first the SXSW festival canceled and others began to cancel or postpone.

“We were keeping a really close eye on it,” Gilbert said. “We’re spoiled, sheltered in Idaho. W’ere used to these threats not coming to our shores here. We were hoping there would be a protecting light for bands to be able to play … but as (the pandemic) kept knocking down events…”

The swift entry of the coronavirus and its journey into Idaho coincided with the annual March Treefort event. It was all a scramble, said Gilbert, because the decision to postpone it came only two weeks prior to the start of the festival, which they had been planning and putting into place for a year. It was a mind-blowing quandary, said Gilbert. “How many people love it? How many businesses rely on it? … And the young bands? But, once we had clarity, we knew we had to move it.”

Now, Gilbert and his crew are making plans for next year and the year after — and also for the time in between.

“With this new postponement, we have a whole downtown business ecosystem to work on for a year.” To that end, Duck Club, the creators of Treefort Music Fest that book performances year-round, are working with a number of national associations, including the National Independent Venue Association and the National Independent Talent Organization, joining forces “to help save the independent music industry,” Gilbert said. “There is a big letter-writing campaign to local representatives currently in motion as there are some bills currently in Congress that could help with some music industry specific financial aid. The #saveourstages campaign in particular.”

In addition, Duck Club is working to put on safe and socially distanced smaller live performances in “Duck Club Presents — Stay Cool Boise” at the Idaho Botanical Garden. Gilbert said it’s a way to be able to listen to live music, albeit on a much smaller scale than Treefort. He attended a recent performance and said, “It’s feeling really good and safe there.”

Gilbert said the nonprofit has also experienced COVID-19 firsthand and knows and understands the seriousness of the pandemic. “We all take it really seriously,” he said, “and definitely people in our organization have gotten it or their parents have. We definitely know people who have lost loved ones. My mom’s in an at-risk group.”

In addition, Treefort and Duck Club are continuing to “explore all options to help our Idaho live-event venues get through the pandemic,” he said. “There’s still a lot of work on that front as they are up against it with no end in sight for the closures.”

Gilbert said he has high hopes for the future. “I do think in the long run, live music will come back. But now, live music like Treefort isn’t an option. … There’s a lot of work that has to be done,” he said. “I’m rooting for all of us.”

For up-to-date information on Treefort, including ticket options and the opportunity to invest in the nonprofit, visit treefortmusicfest.com.