Petfest is happening Saturday (And How, Universe Contest, TFOA), but is it safe?…

Category: Blog — Tags: , — @ 1:13 pm August 14, 2020
Petfest2020 is tomorrow (Saturday) at Petshop in Benson.

Tomorrow is likely the only local music festival for the calendar year 2020 — Petfest.

Held at Petshop Gallery, 2729 No. 62nd St. in Benson — both outside in the back lot and inside the garage performance spade — the line-up is impressive:

Outside Stage:
3:15- Bach Mai
4:35- Drag Performances
5:50- And How
7:10- Drag Performances
8:30- Queerniverse
9:00- Marcey Yates

Inside Stage:
3:50- BB Sledge
5:10- Muscle Cousins
6:30- Those Far Out Arrows
7:50- Ghost Foot
10:00- FLT RTH
10:15- Universe Contest
11:00- Kobrakyle

To keep with COVID restrictions, only 50 tickets will be sold at a cost of $30 (and there’s only about a dozen tickets left for purchase).

There’s also a ton of COVID-related safety restrictions, including mandatory mask wearing (duh!), hand-washing stations, 6-foot social distancing, temperature checks and an enforcement by the “BFF Sani Crew.”

People are dying to hear live music, but they’re not “dying” to hear it, and the BFF folks (that’s Benson First Friday) seem to have everything well covered for a safe experience. Of course you won’t know for sure until you get there. I would have loved if the whole thing were held outside, but organizers wanted two stages to keep things rolling and couldn’t fit both outside. If you’re squeamish about being inside, I’m told you’ll be able to hear the bands just fine from outside the garage space as the overhead doors will be wide open.

The only thing that gives me pause is you can’t bring in outside booze or food, and have to buy everything from them – that’s a potential touch point. I’d rather bring my own 6-pack, but there must be a reason why they’re not allowing it (like maybe it’s not legal?). This is a 21 and over show, btw. The other area of concern involves people who could congregate outside the festival compound, unrestricted and unsupervised. What do you do about them?

Ah, but safety is at the forefront of the organizers’ minds. No one wants to be identified as the non-profit that put on a super-spreader activity. This might be your only chance this year to see a line-up like this (but let’s hope it’s not).

Tickets are available right here. More info here.

That’s all I got. Have a great weekend.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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