A festival I used to be particularly fond with (Ephemerisle) is happening this week despite California's COVID caseload being at record levels. While I think it's possible to have some outdoor events safely, I think the constraints of the event (very little space per person, the need for multiple people to cooperate in close quarters to operate a ship, most socializing happening in small boats or on dense dance platforms, widespread inebriation impairing judgement etc) make it practically very difficult for this particular event to happen safely. Under current circumstances, it seems like the ideal nesting ground for a superspreader event, which hurts everyone, not just event attendees, and will make the event harder to hold in future years.
For the record, almost none of the senior leadership (artists, organizers, key boat owners) from previous years endorses the event this year, including people with way higher risk tolerances than me. However, since it's a decentralized event, there are some people who are making it happen anyway, and they appear to be uninterested in listening to others' concerns.
If you're considering going to the event, do everyone a favor and stay home. It probably won't be much fun this year anyway.
People have pointed out that so few of the core Ephemerisle crew are attending that the event that is happening should not be called Ephemerisle this year. Instead, this should be treated as a rogue group holding an event under the name "Ephemerisle" that is not actually Ephemerisle. I can see the merits of this argument, and it shows the issues with having an event that is decentralized with no clear ownership structure. The pandemic has shown the benefits of strong central leadership and coordination, and systems that are not centralized are not faring well. That's an interesting lesson.