Organizers of Courtenay’s top music festival have hit pause and announced Thursday the event will not take place in 2025.
Known to many as MusicFest, the annual Vancouver Island Music Festival is a Comox Valley mainstay and considered one of the top summer music events in the province. The announcement will come as a surprise to many, but the financial realities of running a non-profit festival in a post-COVID environment proved too difficult to manage, the Comox Valley Folk Society board said in a statement.
“Economic challenges have increased dramatically across all aspects of the Festival — from travel costs to certain production costs more than doubling what they were before the pandemic. When paired with decreasing sponsorships, zero local funding and reduced ticket sales you have pressures on all sides.”
It does not appear the festival, held each July on the Comox Valley Exhibition Grounds, will be permanently cancelled. Organizers will attempt to rebuild resources and determine a sustainable vision based on the current economic reality and cultural changes, the statement reads.
“We have no desire to raise ticket prices to the level we would need to in order to make things work, which would make our festival unavailable for so many members of our community and loyal patrons. It’s all caused us to realize, for the moment at least, our festival model is no longer sustainable in the Comox Valley.”
The multi-day festival has moved the needle dramatically during its three-decade run, and this summer’s 30th anniversary edition boasted an excellent artistic line-up led by Daniel Lanois, Milk Carton Kids, Lucinda Williams, Béla Fleck, and Leo Kottke.
The absence of the festival creates a void in the Vancouver Island concert community that will be difficult to fill. Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, k.d. lang, Alison Krauss, Steve Earle, Mavis Staples, and Bo Diddley are among the scores of top-tier acts booked by MusicFest’s longtime artistic director/executive producer, Doug Cox, since 1995.
“It’s a hard day for us all,” Cox said in the statement. “But it’s time for us to pause and consider the future of our event and make strategies for a sustainable future.”
