The plug has been pulled on the New Fylde Folk ‘n’ Blues Festival, planned for September 4-6, with organisers blaming the cancellation on low ticket sales, lack of take-up of sponsorship opportunities and the ill health of one of the Directors.
A joint statement said: “It is with deepest regret and sadness that the Directors of the New Fylde Folk ‘n’ Roots Festival have made the difficult decision not to go ahead with the festival.
“Along with the committee and with support from local venues, businesses and many volunteers, we have worked tirelessly over the past several months to put together an impressive line-up of high-quality national and international artists. However, despite unceasing activity to promote the festival, ticket sales to date have been disappointingly below target, with less than 100 weekend tickets sold, and expected sponsorship has not been forthcoming. Additionally, one of our Directors has recently undergone surgery for a serious illness, and due to ongoing ill health will now need to withdraw permanently from the festival team. The combination of these factors has forced the Directors to make the pragmatic decision at this time not to go ahead with the festival.
“This was an extremely difficult decision to make, and all of us are devastated by this outcome. We would like to sincerely thank everyone who has worked so hard and so enthusiastically to help us in our efforts to make the festival happen. We would particularly like to extend our warmest gratitude to Alan Bell, former Director of the Fylde Folk Festival, for his hugely valued support, advice and mentorship. The Directors are devastated not to be able to continue Alan’s 42-year legacy of running a folk festival in Fleetwood, and applaud him for his many years of sterling service promoting and performing folk music in the Fylde.”
Although the festival has ben cancelled, there are still a number of live music events taking place in Fleetwood during the first weekend of September, although details have still to be finalised. The North Euston Hotel will be holding a Friday night concert in the Ballroom and plan to have live music in the main bar, The Mount Hotel and Queens also plan to have entertainment, the Steamer Hotel will be celebrating 175 years with free music throughout the weekend, and the Museum is also looking to put on an event.
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