Penrith’s Wannasee Festival – due to take place over the August Bank Holiday weekend – has been postponed.
Organisers said they had made the difficult decision after a site visit found ground conditions were not good enough for the event,
They said: “It’s become apparent that the ground conditions mean that it is not possible to operate Wannasee Festival Penrith, on its scheduled dates, to the standards which are required to ensure it is safe and satisfactory to everyone involved.
“Our team arrived on site to start the event build this week, and the ground conditions are not in a fit state for this to occur without substantial damage to the site which would render the festival unsafe to run for customers.
“We have exhausted all options over the past few days to try and make the event happen but time constraints and the added costs of upwards of hundreds of thousands of pounds mean that we are unable to run the festival as planned next week.
“The ground is soft and saturated underfoot, even without volumes of vehicle traffic and the opinion of our site management team is that were the festival to run on the scheduled dates, there would be a risk of stuck vehicles in all phases of the event, which could cause traffic management concerns in clearing the roads.
“The ground conditions also lead us to believe there is a risk of unsafe conditions on foot, and unsanitary conditions in camping areas, particularly where vehicular access is needed such as live-in vehicle camping areas.
“Sadly, the almost continuously wet summer, with insufficient lengthier periods of dry, warm weather, to allow the ground sufficient time to dry out means that even with a mixture of on and off rain/dry weather, over the next week – there have been several very wet days this week alone – there is not sufficient time for the ground to recover.
“We share the disappointment in being unable to stage the festival, as planned, but we are sure you will understand that safety must come first and to try and run the festival in hugely muddy conditions would be much too risky and we have fallen victim to this wet summer, as, sadly, have dozens of other festivals.”
All ticket holders will receive an email this afternoon with further information, organisers said.
They added: “Once again, we are truly sorry to make this decision, but we are unwilling to compromise on health and safety to attempt to scrape something together which wouldn’t be enjoyable for anyone involved.”
