Animal Music Festival has been canceled – but organizers hope to return next year

Lost revenue from a rain-hit event last year, along with slow ticket sales this year, blamed on cancellation

Organizers of an Enfield music festival have announced the cancellation of this year’s event after being hit by financial pressures.

The Animal Music Festival was due to take place at Forty Hall Farm on July 27, but a combination of a rain-hit event last year and slow ticket sales this year has led to organizers canceling the 2024 event and issuing refunds to those who they had pre-purchased tickets.

They launched an appeal to help save this year’s event last month.

But in a statement released last night (Wednesday 3), Paul Dengel and co-organizers Jody and Vicky said: “It is with great sadness that we have been forced to cancel the 2024 Animal Music Festival.

“Despite the fantastic support from you, those of you who make these events possible by buying tickets, we are too far off target to risk going any further.

“Livestock is a not-for-profit community enterprise that exists solely to raise funds for and produce the Livestock Festival. Everything we do is entirely focused on this goal.

“Several factors contributed to this undesirable outcome. Losses from last year’s rain wiped out what little reserves we had, coupled with increased costs from Covid and reduced ticket sales for this year’s event means the financial risks to continue are too great as these risks would fall on the three directors behind the Zootehnie organization.

“We have no corporate backers, sponsors or unfortunately a magic pot of gold to rely on, just our enthusiasm and desire to put on the event so that the people of Enfield, our home town and beyond can have a festival affordable and high quality. the door’s threshold.”

However, it is still hoped that the event, which features local acts from a wide range of genres as well as some of the best cover bands in the country, will return in 2025.

The Livestock team also hold monthly shows at Forty Hall Farm called ‘Music at the Black Barn’.

The statement continued: “It is very important to us that the animals are fit to return next year, so although it is not what we want, it is absolutely necessary to cancel this year to ensure the future security of the event we have worked on, so hard to build.

“We’re already looking at dates for the future and exploring plans to put on some great shows over the summer, so rest assured we’ll be back and, as always, working hard to make sure the next one is better than ever.”

Refunds are processed within the next week.

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