LouFest 2018 is officially canceled. Event producer Listen Live Entertainment issued a statement early Wednesday morning that it is cancelling the Forest Park music festival.
The news came after recent reports from St. Louis Public Radio that vendors had begun pulling out of LouFest as late as a week before the event, initially scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday, September 8–9.
A statement from Listen Live Entertainment managing partner Mike Van Hee linked to LouFest's official Instagram account cited "financial hurdles," "unfortunately timed media coverage," and "fickle weather" among the reasons for the cancellation.
"The loss of two of the event's top sponsors, scheduling and contract issues with major artists, and existing debt from previous events have all put immense pressure on the balance sheet," the statement read.
The statement noted that refunds will be issued for LouFest ticket holders: "Although we don’t currently have the funds to issue refunds, the exceptional festival ticketing company we selected, Front Gate Tickets, owned by Live Nation and Ticketmaster, will be stepping up to refund all fans in full while we work to repay our debts."
As of Wednesday morning, there was no information on Front Gate Tickets' website about receiving a refund.
Twitter users took to the platform after the news broke.
This story is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available.
