White Party Palm Springs postponed from April to Halloween

White Party Palm Spring (Photo: Iggy Lopez)
White Party Palm Spring (Photo: Iggy Lopez)

Circuit party promoter Jeffrey Sanker has announced this year’s White Party Palm Springs has been postponed until October. Last year’s event was canceled because of Covid-19. This year’s event was due to take place this April (23-26). Many of those attending would have been those still holding tickets for last year’s event.

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In a statement on his website, Sanker said the event will return for a three-day festival and “new beginning” over Halloween (October 29-November 1, 2021).

White Party spokesperson Jack Ketsoyan told Desert Sun the event will return to the Hilton Palm Springs, with more details released nearer the time. He also said the 2022 event should return to its regular April slot.

(Photo: White Party Palm Springs/Iggy Lopez)

The event is the biggest gay circuit party in the US and attracts around 30,000 partygoers. Performers at the event in recent years have included Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Minogue, and Lady Gaga. Prior to its cancellation, the 2020 event was to be headlined by Meghan Trainor and Todrick Hall.

White Party Palm Springs
A party at the 2018 event (Photo: White Party Palm Springs/Iggy Lopez)

The “new beginning” Sanker refers to could partly be a desire to put the pandemic behind him. Although he canceled his events in the US, he faced criticism from some quarters for continuing to hold big parties at his Mexico nightclub: Industry in Puerto Vallarta.

He also planned a three-day event over New Year’s Eve in Puerto Vallarta. Following complaints from locals over it becoming a ‘super-spreader’ event, he moved it ten miles away to Nuevo Vallarta, which is in the neighboring state of Riviera Nayarit (with fewer Covid restrictions).

The event included a boat trip that made headlines of its own when the ship involved sank mid-party, prompting all aboard to swim to safety.

Related: The Puerto Vallarta boat disaster immortalized… in T-shirt form

No lives were lost, although one imagines those involved may have been left pretty shaken by the incident. Their ordeal was met with little sympathy, with many commentators saying the whole thing wouldn’t have happened if those attending hadn’t been partying in the middle of a pandemic.

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