The 2024 Blue Ridge Rock Festival is canceled

The Blue Ridge Rock Festival has canceled its 2024 edition. The festival has been in hot water since it was canceled in the middle of the 2023 edition, leading to everything from Department of Health investigations to piles of angry fans waiting their reimbursement.

According to a statement from the festival organizers, refunds for tickets purchased for the 2024 edition in 2023 will be fully refunded… which I’m sure is a comfort to everyone reading that everyone is still waiting for their refund from last year. All we know for sure is that the Blue Ridge Rock Festival plans to return in 2025 – so I guess we’ll see what happens.

The full statement from the organizers is as follows:

“The Blue Ridge Rock Festival and Virginia International Raceway regret to announce that the 2024 Festival will not take place as originally planned. Our goal and number one priority has been and remains to resolve the insurance claim and ‘ensure a resolution for everyone affected by the 2023 weather conditions. cancellation.

“After careful consideration and discussions between both parties, we have mutually agreed that holding the festival in 2024 is not feasible at this time as we are still awaiting a resolution for 2023. As a result, all items purchased for the 2024 festival will be entirely Contrary to online information, 2024 tickets went on sale at the very beginning of the 2023 festival (not recently), just like we did in 2022. This 2024 on sale has took place well in advance of the inclement weather. Partial cancellation of the 2023 festival. Sales that took place for 2024 were held in escrow. We are working with the merchant processing company to streamline and process refunds. your email for upcoming 2024 refund information.

“We would like to express our gratitude to Virginia International Raceway for their partnership and unwavering support throughout this unexpected and unequivocally difficult time. What has happened behind the scenes over the past several months with Blue Ridge has often been incredibly unique and unprecedented for a Music Festival, but VIR graciously understood, kept the faith and worked through every situation with us.

“While the Blue Ridge Rock Festival will not take place in 2024, we can’t wait to reveal what the future holds in 2025. We are very grateful to an incredibly passionate fan base that naturally brought about a small festival. ‘a day, in rural Virginia, to incredible heights, thanks to fan engagement and innovation in its programming, experiences and overall curation.

“Thank you to all of our supporters, attendees and partners for your understanding and infectious support of the Blue Ridge Rock Festival. We look forward to resolving 2023 and 2024 for everyone soon.”

To recap, the 2023 Blue Ridge Rock Festival was canceled halfway through (the September 9 and 10 dates never happened) due to what organizers called “continuing severe weather.” However, a report surfaced a few days later suggesting that stagehands working at the festival were planning to walk out on September 9 due to poor working conditions. The report alleges that stagehands presented a list of demands to organizers on the evening of September 8, saying conditions needed to be improved or a strike would take place.

Attendees of the Blue Ridge Rock Festival later complained about not receiving refunds from organizers, an issue that extended into January 2024 (and beyond). All of this was compounded by the fact that the Blue Ridge Rock Festival was also under investigation by the Virginia Department of Health after people reported gastrointestinal issues in the days following the festival.