Long Beach Folk Revival Festival pulls the plug

0

The Long Beach Folk Revival Festival, which the past few years has hosted the likes of Lucero, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Deer Tick, the White Buffalo and JD McPherson, is calling it quits, a victim of intense competition in the Southern California market.

Last September’s event, held at Rainbow Lagoon Park, was the festival’s fifth year. There were no fewer than 11 festivals in the region that month, ranging from free community affairs to promoter-drive extravaganzas.

“In 2017 we saw a lot more competition to our event with multiple new festivals and events popping up the same weekend, and with the recent announcements of major event producers moving into Long Beach to set up operations, we decided that there just isn’t room enough for a family-run community event of our size,” organizers said in a statement. “We saw a significant decrease in attendance in 2017 and while a major backed music festival might be able to handle this temporary lull, our resources are very limited and it affected us greatly.”

They added: “While this may be the end of the Long Beach Folk Revival Festival, the folk, bluegrass and roots music scene is still very much alive in Long Beach and we will continue to support our community of musicians however we can including keeping the monthly folk jam going.”