The Mabel Tainter board of directors today announced that all shows will be canceled through the end of November due to the pandemic. The board also announced that the current Executive Director, Jeff Sweeney, will be leaving the theater during the period it is shut down and will take a position as Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the 7 Rivers Region based in La Crosse, WI.

This is the entire press release:

Both the Eaux Claires festival and Ashley for the Arts announced this morning that they are canceling their musical events for the summer of 2020. 

Eaux Claires had previously worked out an agreement with the city of Eau Claire to hold their festival downtown this summer rather than at the prior more rural location. Ashley for the Arts will take place August 12-14 2021.

This afternoon the Pablo Center announced (via Twitter)  a new smaller version of Eaux Claire, to be held this winter at the Pablo Center. The event is called Eaux Claires Hiver, once again showing Justin Vernon's need to massacre the French language. At least in the video they make fun of it this time. At this point all we know is that tickets go on sale on the 15th.

It's summer in the Chippewa Valley, which can only mean one thing - Music Festivals.  There will be no Eaux Claires this summer, but that won't mean there's any shortage of music.  Two are coming up in the next few weeks, and they're some of my personal favorites.

The Blue Ox Music Festival runs June 13-15, bringing you some of the best in  Bluegrass and related genres. This year's lineup includes Pert Near Sandstone, Trampled by Turtles, The Del McCoury Band, and a whole lot more.