Vancouver Island Musicfest Cancels Plans For 2025

Organizers of the Vancouver Island MusicFest have announced there won't be a festival next summer.

The Board of the Comox Valley Folk Society and MusicFest staff have announced they are taking a year off from the annual festival to rebuild resources and determine a sustainable vision based on the current economic reality and cultural changes.

In a release, organizers say sadly, the difficult reality is being faced by numerous festivals around the world as all grapple with escalating costs.

The release says for the moment at least, the Festival model is no longer sustainable in the Comox Valley, as 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." say organizers.

"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.”

Artistic Director/Executive Producer Doug Cox says the Board and staff have not come to the decision lightly, realizing how important the Festival is to many volunteers, friends and families who have attended the community gathering over the last 30 years.