Impacts from Hurricane Ian, which is expected to bring heavy rains and winds to Maryland this weekend as a tropical storm, have caused the cancellation of the inaugural Oceans Calling Festival on the Eastern Shore.
The cancellation for the “highly anticipated” three-day music festival was posted Thursday on Ocean City’s website, which said that event was axed because of unsafe weather conditions.
“We are extremely disappointed to cancel Oceans Calling Festival,” Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan said in a news release, but said that plans were already beginning to reschedule the festival for 2023.
City officials have been working on the festival, which would have been a first for the resort community, since May 2021.
Oceans Calling was to have featured more than 30 musical acts on three stages from Friday through Sunday.
Scheduled headliners included rock stars Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, the folk-rock group The Lumineers, singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette and punk-rock performer Cyndi Lauper.
In a social media post, festival organizers said “additional severe weather conditions forecasted for the rest of the weekend” also contributed to the decision to cancel. The post said full refunds would be issued within 30 days.
Hurricane Ian was off the coast of South Carolina on Wednesday afternoon, and meteorologists predicted that the storm’s path would approach Maryland’s Eastern Shore on Friday. The hurricane is expected to be most intense on Friday and Saturday, dumping several inches of rain in the area with winds gusting up to 40 miles an hour, and then begin tapering off on Sunday. Some showers will be possible through Tuesday.
The hurricane also is expected to send rain and wind into Baltimore, but less of it. Wind gusts here are forecast to reach up to 35 miles an hour on Friday night and Saturday.
The Baltimore by Baltimore festival planned for Saturday at the Inner Harbor amphitheater has also been canceled but will be rescheduled for a later date, according to a news release Thursday from the Waterfront Partnership.
The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for Maryland and Virginia Beaches.