CALGARY – The annual two-day alternative rock festival at Fort Calgary has been cancelled.
Union Events promoters released the following statement on Twitter and the official X-Fest feed early Saturday afternoon, after the gates were scheduled to open.
“In the interest of public safety, and due to adverse weather conditions, we regretfully announce the cancellation of the 2015 edition of X-Fest Calgary. Heavy rain over the last 24 hours has created an unsafe environment to proceed with the festival.”
The biggest reason for the cancellation was that several emergency exits were too muddy to access, which was caused by the heavy rainfall over the last 24 hours.
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Union Events director Sarath Samarasekera says it’s a very rare occasion that you have to cancel such a big event like X-FEST.
“We’ve only cancelled one event in the previous ten years, so it’s also new for us. But we made the call because people come to music festivals to have fun and getting hurt isn’t fun,” Samarasekera said.
“We have insurance for different types of of things but there’s definitely going to be some loss all around. An event like this has a huge economic impact on the city. We spend millions and millions of dollars on this kind of event. I think the trickle down effect is going to be pretty big.”
Promoters say all ticket holders for X-Fest Calgary will be able to redeem their tickets in Edmonton at Sonic Boom Festival www.sonicboomfestival.com (which features the same artist line up: Hozier, Tenacious D, Ellie Goulding, Alexisonfire & many more this weekend).
Alternatively, refunds will be also available at point of purchase.
Ten to twelve thousand people were expected to attend the festival.
Organizers also said the ground was covered in mud and would not be safe with so many people in attendance.
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