Festival organisers pledge that event will return in the future after plug pulled this year
THE devastated organisers of a cancelled music festival have vowed that something good will rise out of the trauma.
Jon Ashton and Ian Cheslett were forced to pull the plug on this year’s REYT FEST which was to have taken place in June after poor ticket sales.
The pair said they were initially devastated and wanted to walk away but messages of support from other festivals, bands and the public meant they will soldier on.
The festival would have featured Britpop headliner Sleeper and a huge array of other bands and performers.
Jon said that refunds are being sent out and blamed the cost of living crisis on poor ticket sales.
He said: “All the festivals are suffering. The events industry is suffering.
“The pinch on money these days is so tight and people are not going out as much.
“The only thing I can say is at the moment a lot of people have reached out to us and we are talking about doing something.
“Since we cancelled we have been contacted by hundreds and hundreds of people.
“We are still reeling from the fact we have had to pull the plug on it.
“We are not walking away from this. We have invested too much time and money.”
Ian added: “We still think it would have been a great festival.
“We thought there would be enough people coming at the price level we put it at. We thought it would be relatively easy to sell the tickets, which was possibly naive.
“We did look at the financial side and costed everything.”
Jon and Ian have talked to organisers from other local festivals – DonnyFest, Nebulafest and Wentfest – and their support has been helpful.
Jon said that people getting refunds for REYT FEST 2026 will also get discount codes to get money off DonnyFest tickets in a bid to keep money in the local music scene.
Jon said that such support had been inspiring and encouraged him and Ian to plan a future event.
He said: “We are not just walking away from it. We have some ideas.”