Citing low vaccination rates in the local community and the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19, city officials have called off 2021’s The Birthplace of Route 66 Festival, a two-day event that had been scheduled for 8/13-14 in Springfield, Mo.

This is the second year in a row the gathering has been canceled due to the virus. Southwest Missouri remains one of the nation's hot spots; it was feared that a further spike in cases might push area hospitals beyond capacity.

The steering committee (including a stakeholder group) for The Birthplace of Route 66 Festival voted unanimously to cancel the outing, which would have showcased more than 450 classic cars, saying it was too large; the event draws an international crowd of auto enthusiasts—75k people had been expected this year.

The city council had scheduled a vote for Monday that would have added an extra day to the festival and hired a band for the Rock the Route concert. “Since we canceled the [whole thing]," said councilman Richard Ollis. “I guess we don’t need a band.”

“Obviously, we're very disappointed. After having to cancel the 2020 festival, we were so looking forward to 2021,” said Cora Scott, Springfied's director of public information and civic engagement and a steering-committee member. “With our region’s low vaccination rate against COVID-19, the resulting surge of infections are overwhelming our hospitals and making our community sick. We feel it's just not safe to bring tens of thousands of people from all over the world to this community for any reason.”

In its place, officials are planning a vaccination party in hopes of getting shots in more Missourians' arms. Organizers are counting on the festival's return in 2022.