One of the UK’s largest LGBT+ swingers festivals has been cancelled, citing coronavirus safeguarding measures. (Stock photograph via Elements Envato/Aurora Lifestyle Festival)
Social distancing measures have imbued every aspect of life – pad-locking the economy, stonewalling loved ones from one another and… leading to the cancellation of Europe’s largest swingers festival.
Nothing is sacred, not in a pandemic.
Organisers behind the Aurora Lifestyle Festival, described as “the UK’s biggest and best adult LGBT communities and lifestyle festival”, admitted Monday (June 29) that couples eager to abandon their cooped-up coronavirus existences will have to wait till next year.
Due to social distancing guidelines snarling England, the organisers said in a statement they were not prepared to offer a “poor replica” of the mass swingers meet-up.
Hundreds had signed-up to the event which would have taken place between Thursday and Saturday (July 2-4). Attendees would have been supplied the address, believed to be in the leafy west Midlands county of Worcestershire, around 48 hours before.
Mass LGBT-inclusive swingers festival cancelled due to coronavirus safeguarding concerns.
Parking their caravans or set-up tents in open fields for a few days of, well, you know, the festival offered sex hammocks as well as themed nights, such as “Wild West”, “School Disco” or “Rock n’ Roll”.
But as much as regulations have been relaxed by government officials, mass gatherings remain impossible. The Aurora Lifestyle Festival held out for as long as it could, but it admitted defeat against the need to safeguard on its social media.
“We pride ourselves on providing the best, independent, Lifestyle Festival in the UK, giving our customers an experience to remember,” the statement said.
“We are not prepared to offer you all, an experience that is a poor replica that does not reflect the true essence and standards of Aurora.
“We will use this time to look after ourselves and each other and see where this virus takes us. Hopefully 2021 will, be the year to return bigger and fresher and virus free.”
Organisers added that ticket-holders can request a refund or simply have their tickets transferred to 2021’s festival. Tickets fared around £170 per couple.
Single folk have been forced to imagine what their sex lives will be like throughout and beyond lockdown. Some health leaders and agencies have urged many wanting to dust-off their Grindr and Tinder bios that they will soon be entering a dating scene of no kissing, no touching and a lot of face masks.
In New York City, US, for example, the city’s health department recommended in its safe sex guide that New Yorkers get “a little kinky” and get “creative with sexual positions and physical barriers, like walls that allow sexual contact while preventing close face to face contact.”
Glory hole. The word the department is looking for is glory hole.