The Rothbury Music Festival, which for the past two years has brought the likes of The Dead, Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews Band, Widespread Panic, and others to Rothbury, MI over the Fourth of July holiday, has been canceled, the festival announced on its website today (Jan. 22).
“During the past three years, all of us involved with Rothbury have greatly appreciated the tremendous outpouring of support for the future of the festival. For 2010, we have had to make the tough decision to postpone our efforts,” the announcement reads.
“A contributing factor in our decision is that, due to various artists’ recording and touring schedules, we now believe that timing will not allow for us to assemble the cutting edge roster that everyone has come to expect from Rothbury. “The result for this year is that we are not able to move forward with the integrity and high standards that we demand from ourselves and for the festival.”
No exact reasoning for the decision was given, however, the festival had a history of problems, dating back to a foreclosure lawsuit filed against the festival’s site, the Double JJ Resort, shortly after the inaugural edition of the festivlal concluded in 2008. More recently, Rothbury had been in a battle with community leaders proposed an ordinance that would limit the number of events, crowd size, and late-night noise from Double JJ Resort events. It’d be safe to assume that the lack of a resolution regarding this ordnance played a major factor.
That said, the festival does hope to return in the future. “Despite the 2010 postponement, we intend to move toward continuing Rothbury in 2011. This event is something very special, and we are unwilling to potentially tarnish what Rothbury is, and can become, by working under conditions that will produce anything less than a magical experience.”