It's official. The Solidays 2026 festival is cancelled. The decision was made this Friday due to the heatwave currently affecting the country. The event was scheduled to begin this Friday at the Longchamp racecourse in the Hauts-de-Seine department and continue until Sunday. The Paris police prefecture had asked the organizers to cancel the event, warning that if they did not cancel voluntarily, they would ban the festival by decree.
Solidays will not take place this weekend.
The cancellation affects the entire festival. Solidays was scheduled to welcome its audience for three days at Longchamp. The intense heat led authorities to conclude that conditions were not suitable for holding a gathering of this scale. The decision aims to prevent prolonged exposure of the public, technical teams, artists, volunteers, and security personnel to dangerous temperatures. A festival of this size involves a massive outdoor presence, travel, long queues, and a high concentration of people on site.
The Pride March was also affected.
The Pride March, scheduled for Saturday in Paris, will also not take place on the planned date. It has been postponed until September. Organizers announced the postponement Friday morning. The event was expected to draw a large crowd to the streets of Paris. Here again, the heatwave prompted the authorities' decision.
A request from the authorities
The Paris police prefecture had requested the cancellation of Solidays and the postponement of the Pride March. In the case of Solidays, the authorities indicated that the event would be banned by decree if the organizers did not cancel it themselves. The Ministry of the Interior also requested the festival's cancellation.
Two major gatherings removed from the calendar
The decision has disrupted the Parisian weekend. Solidays was scheduled to open this Friday. The Pride March was to take place on Saturday. Both events are among the capital's major popular gatherings. The first is canceled. The second is postponed. The reason given is the same: the heatwave and the risks associated with large outdoor gatherings.
A weekend under health restrictions
The heatwave necessitates exceptional measures. Authorities have chosen to mitigate risks before the events begin. Holding Solidays or the Pride March would have meant prolonged exposure of tens of thousands of people to high temperatures. The stated priority is the safety of the public and the teams involved.
