Pemberton Music Festival 2017 Canceled After Company Files for Bankruptcy

Fans in Vancouver are not happy to hear that the 2017 Pemberton Music Festival will not go on as planned this summer. On Thursday (May 18), organizers have announced that the festival has been canceled, leaving ticket holders in the lurch.

The Seattle Times is reporting that Pemberton Music Festival LP and 1115666 B.C. LTD, collectively know as “PMF,” has filed for bankruptcy and there will be no automatic refunds for ticket holders, who may have to wait weeks to learn whether they will get their money back.

“As PMF is now in bankruptcy, it has no ability to provide refunds for tickets purchased,” reads the document posted on the festival's official website. “However, ticketholders may file a proof of claim form as an unsecured creditor with (Ernst & Young) in accordance with the claims process.”

The Pemberton Music Festival was scheduled to run from July 13 to 16 and it would have been the fourth year for the three-day event. Among the headliners set to perform included A Tribe Called Quest, Chance the Rapper, Run the Jewels and more. General admission tickets were priced at $369, while VIP tickets cost $899 and Super VIP ran upwards of $1,799.

Reps for production companies that were hired to handle the technical aspects of the festival believed that organizers were in over the heads with putting together such a large event. “All of us are owed a lot of money,” said Lewis Neilson, owner of Production Power Corporation, a Vancouver firm, who handles electrical and lighting services for concert events. “No one’s going to get anything. As far as I know, they have no assets.”

Huka Entertainent, the producer contracted for the event, said in a statement that it did not make the decision to cancel the festival, which it claims came from Pemberton Music Festival LP.

“For the past four years, Huka Entertainment has worked to create a one-of-a-kind experience in the most beautiful place on earth,” read the statement. “We are heartbroken to see the 2017 Pemberton Music Festival canceled.”