FLOYD COUNTY, Va. – Organizers of FloydFest announced Thursday they’ve made the decision to cancel the music festival scheduled for this summer.
Chief Operating Officer Sam Calhoun says the decision was made because of delays in permits and construction.
“We didn’t want to welcome people to a site that was only half done,” he said.
This year was set to be the inaugural FloydFest at the new location, Festival Park in Check.
“The best decision for all the patrons and the artists was to delay until 2024 and cancel this year and to look ahead to next year,” said Calhoun.
Last year’s FloydFest brought nearly 10,000 people to the area.
With no festival this year, Kathleen Legg who serves as the director of tourism for Floyd County says she’s concerned about a loss in revenue.
“The economic impact for each year is typically millions of dollars,” said Legg. “It’s definitely taking a toll not having FloydFest. Lots of our lodging businesses were booked for the whole week. People come and stop for food, come shopping, fill up on gas on their way in and out of town.”
This year would’ve been Sarah McLester’s twelfth year attending FloydFest.
She says she’s excited to experience the new location at Festival Park, despite having to wait another year.
“I’d say there are about 10 of us who have bought tickets all the same day the first day they went on sale,” said McLester. “We are all rolling them over. We are of course waiting and keeping the faith for 2024. While we are disappointed I have full faith they are going to get things ironed out and we are going to have a great festival next year.”
Officials with the festival say people who have already purchased tickets for 2023 can either roll the tickets over to FloydFest 2024, or request a refund.