Luke Bryan’s concert at Westmoreland County farm canceled because of weather

The show was set to kick off Bryan’s 2026 Farm Tour.

By JOYCE HANZ and QUINCEY CATULLO TribLive

Country music singer Luke Bryan had a hit song, “Rain is a Good Thing,” in 2009.

It was not such a good thing Thursday as storms in the morning made a muddy mess in Unity, forcing the cancellation of the Pennsylvania leg of his 2026 Farm Tour set.

The concert, slated to take place Thursday evening on 1846 Farms off Bell Memorial Church Road, was canceled when set-up was bogged down in mud.

“Hey y’all. Unfortunately tonight’s Farm Tour show in Latrobe, PA will not take place due to the conditions of the field. I am so sorry,” Bryan said in an Instagram post Thursday afternoon. “This call was made for everyone’s safety.

“Please hang on to your tickets and parking passes. We are working on the next steps and will update y’all as soon as a decision is made. God bless and stay safe y’all.”

Aleisha Stas, 28, who owns 1846 Farms with her parents and sister, said the family was devastated by the cancellation. It is unclear if the concert will be rescheduled, she said.

“We’re very disappointed. We’ve been getting ready since April,” Stas said. “The farm tour does not define us and there will be many more events to come. We were hoping for this to be a soft-launch opening for our venue and we’re very sad for the whole community.”

The concert was to take place on about 35 acres that the family cleared for the concert with the help of the Cleveland Brothers volunteering a lot of work and time to the project.

Local public school students were even treated to a half-day off from classes in anticipation of the concert.

“At the end of the day we’ve had a lot of record rainfall,” Stas said. “It’s not safe to have the stage on a soft surface like that and millions of dollars of equipment was brought in and Luke Bryan’s production team made the decision to cancel.”

Tour crews were busy navigating extreme conditions in the afternoon, with reports of trucks and equipment stuck in the muddy field.

The public and media were not permitted on the field and security was directing traffic along Bell Memorial Church Road. Fans of the country star had already begun to arrive before the show was canceled.

Unity Supervisors Chairman Mike O’Barto said he received an email from the concert production company around 10 a.m. saying the show would be canceled, he told Trib-Live.

“Due to the rain and storms we had this morning, we will have to cancel tonight’s show,” the email said. “We are looking at possibilities for rescheduling, but nothing has been confirmed at this time.”

Bryan fans and friends Ally Slebodnik and Haylee Watt, both of Altoona, drove to Unity but were told by a parking guard the concert was canceled.

Both ladies said they had not yet received any emails about the cancellation so they pulled over on the side of the muddy road to take it all in.

“It’s disappointing. It would have been nice to know sooner. We’ve been to the farm tour before and it’s really good so we were excited,” Slebodnik said.

The pair said they don’t anticipate Bryan coming back to Unity anytime soon.

“This would have been our fourth time seeing him and they said we should get a refund in about 7-10 days,” Watt said.

Karen Wighan of Unity was another fan hoping to see Bryan for the first time in concert.

“I’m making the best of it and I feel very bad for everyone. There has been a lot of talk and this has been very exciting for our small, local community to have such a big country star so it’s disappointing,” she said.

John Shondelmyer of New Alexandria was hoping to catch his first Luke Bryan concert and showed up at the Bronze Eagle — the events barn at the site — after hearing the bad news that left his wife and friends singing the blues.

“I’m bummed out for my wife and her friends. I know the people that own the farm have been working for months,” Shondelmyer said. “It’s a sad day because all that time and energy spent getting ready, but unfortunately you’re in Western Pennsylvania and the weather can change pretty quick. But it’s safety first absolutely.”

O’Barto is hopeful the show can be moved to another date.

“The Stas family put a lot of work into getting everything ready for the concert,” he said.

He said canceling the show was a wise decision.

“Let’s be honest: that’s a farm,” he said. “When it rains, especially with the amount of rain we’ve been getting in the last month or so, it’s going to be very muddy.”

Yvonne Lovejoy heard about the cancellation on the news but with the sun shining at that time, she thought it was maybe a joke.

“I’m down but I understand. I saw how things are, it’s very, very muddy,” Lovejoy said.

Mary Jo Baum also wanted to see Bryan for the first time but she’ll have to wait.

“I see the safety logistics so we have to have some understanding on that. So plan B is we are going to this event at the barn,” Baum said.

The Bronze Eagle at 1846 Farms turned into a makeshift early gathering spot for folks milling around discussing the cancellation.

The restored barn on the Stas property is set to open in the near future as an upscale-yet-rustic wedding and event venue available for rental.

The Stas family looked for the silver lining after Thursday’s severe storms.

“This is the perfect example of what the American farmer deals with every day,” Stas said. “There are so many farmers in America that it doesn’t matter how hard they prepare, work and how many months they plan, Mother Nature can come in and destroy what they did in a few hours. I think that’s the message. We are farmer strong and one hiccup does not define us.”

In addition to Unity on Thursday, the tour is making stops in Millersport, Ohio (Sept. 18); Brookston, Ind. (Sept. 19); and Allegan, Mich. (Sept. 20). The full show features artists Dasha, Kenny Whitmire, the Peach Pickers and DJ Rock.