MINNEAPOLIS — Tickets go on sale for the Twin Cities Summer Jam Friday.
Summer Jam was one of the first big Twin Cities events that was canceled in early March this year because of the pandemic. Now, organizers have their eyes set on 2021.
The lineup came out last week with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Carrie Underwood, and the Zac Brown Band as headliners for the three-day event at Canterbury Park.
Jerry Braam is the co-founder and CEO of the festival.
"Vaccines coming out, the treatments are getting better and better and better and we’ve got a plan eight months out," Braam said. "We’ve got all these artist under contract and we just figure now is the time to give some positivity in Minnesota," he said.
Braam said they are putting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing, and admits, this is all a risk.
"Pulling this festival together and having it among all this and telling people we are moving forward, our company is taking a financial risk," he said. "So we’re on the hook," Braam said.
There are going to be COVID-19 measures in place. Braam said there will be more hand sanitizer stations, they're looking to widened VIP spaces and checking if more entrances will help. He said he's not sure if they'll be able to max out the facility at about 40,000. Braam said they are also telling sponsors there may not be as a many opportunities because they need that space to accommodate the event.
Prices for tickets range from $100 to more than $1,000, in addition to parking. If you buy tickets, and the event is canceled again because of the pandemic, you’ll get a full refund. Braam said when they cancelled this year, about 7,000 people still kept their tickets that can be redeemed next year.