Along with the closing of schools, restaurants, and other massive public spaces due to COVID-19, many famous music festivals are also postponed or canceled.

People from all around the world make it a tradition and custom to come to these festivals annually. Although these sudden changes are not out of the ordinary during this time, they bring unexpected consequences.

Music festivals bring people together from around the world and along with them comes a massive influx of profits for the venues.

The universally well-known music festival Coachella, for example, welcomed 99,000 attendees per day during the total six days of the event in 2019.

Attendees spent a total of $403 million injecting $106 million into the surrounding city of Indio, California.

The city also benefited from a $3.8 million tax revenue from the event’s ticket sales, a figure that accounts for 5 percent of the city’s general fund, according to GQ.

But Coachella is not alone in providing for these areas. Austin’s South by Southwest festival was canceled as well — its “economic impact was estimated to be $356 million” in 2019 according to Billboard.

Among these postponements are also cancellations such as the cancellation of Shania Twain’s Las Vegas performances, Alabama’s Hangout Fest, and the World of Music, Arts, and Dance (WOMAD) Festival according to Billboard.

These postponements may seem insignificant but are just another added factor to the ever-worsening economy of today because people in these areas depend on the events for their income. Cities depend on festivals to further their economies.

The events not only provide for the surrounding cities but also give new artists a chance to rise to fame.

Many attendees look forward to these events as a once-in-a-lifetime experience and are devastated that they are canceled or postponed.

Many Laguna students who were planning on attending Coachella are devastated about its postponement. Some seniors have been attending Coachella throughout high school.

Senior Grace Fitzpatrick was planning on attending Coachella this year.  “Senior year was the last year I was going to go to Coachella because it just doesn’t make sense for me to fly across the country only to spend three days in California. Next year, I’m going to school in Vermont, so I won’t have the option to go. I was really looking forward to [Coachella] as one of the last big events that I would be participating in with my friends, but now I feel like I’m missing out.”

Laguna students share the same disappointment about Coachella’s cancellation, but understand that it is for the safety of the public.

Despite certain negative repercussions, however,  postponing large gatherings is a necessary, precautionary step in limiting the spread of COVID-19 that is worsening daily in the United States.

If steps such as these weren’t taken to prevent the spread of this fatal virus, the United States would not be able to recover from COVID-19.