Arkansas Gov. Cancels Travis McCready’s ‘Socially Distance’ Concert Despite Safety Precautions

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has ordered the cancellation of a Travis McCready concert scheduled for Friday, saying that the performance at TempleLive in Fort Smith would violate state health guidelines.

The planned acoustic performance had drawn national attention as popular pressure mounts for states to loosen stay-at-home restrictions and allow businesses to open their doors. The live music industry has seen cancellations across the board as major pop stars have halted tours. State health guidelines have also forced  concert venues to shut down.

Gov. Hutchinson (R) said in a news conference Tuesday that concert would come three days before the state allows indoor venues to hold events with 50 people or fewer. McCready’s  event was expected to draw more about 250 ticketholders.

“You can’t just arbitrarily determine when the restrictions are lifted. That is something that is done based on a public health requirement,” Gov. Hutchinson told reporters on Tuesday.

The governor also said the venue failed to submit a plan to the state’s health department.

“Clearly, it is three days before we determined it was an appropriate time to open up to a limited capacity in some of those informal venues, and even if you’re going to have 250 people at a venue, you still have to have a specific plan that would be approved by the Department of Health,” Gov. Hutchinson said.

“None of that was done in this case. It’s out of time.”

He said the state will order the venue to cancel the event. “In terms of the concert, there will be a cease-and-desist order that will be issued by the Department of Health directing that the concert not take place.”

McCready’s concert was expected to require attendees to wear masks and to maintain social distancing. It would also reduced the capacity of the TempleLive venue, which normally seats more than 1,000 people, by more than three-quarters.

But the precautions failed to sway Arkansas’ Gov. Hutchinson. So far, TempleLive has not officially said whether or not the concert has been canceled.

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