PEMBERTON, BC (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Live Nation has pulled the plug on Pemberton 2010, making for the second year in a row that the Canadian festival has been cancelled.
"For the time being, we have put plans to stage the next Pemberton Festival on hold while we work with local officials on issues which will make the festival financially feasible for us," said a statement from Live Nation. "We hope that we will be able to bring back the Festival to Pemberton at some point in the future."
Although the Pemberton festival drew crowds in excess of 40,000 a day in its 2008 inaugural event, Live Nation scrapped the event last year, citing delays in obtaining permits for land use.
Shane Bourbonnais, the producer of the 2008 festival and now Live Nation's President of Talent and International Music told local news magazine Pique that the festival was on hiatus until Live Nation could work out issues with local officials that would "make the festival financially feasible for us."
Pemberton mayor Jordan Sturdy took exception with Bourbonnais comments, telling the Pique that:
"It's not so much with local officials as provincial officials, what we're talking about is liquor licensing and policing, those are the two main issues.
"Neither of those issues are issues that the local elected officials can make decisions on so we're continuing to work with the province and the RCMP to bring costs in line with festivals in other places around the world."
According to Sturdy, the festival might need a different kind of liquor permit as the types that the provincial government currently offers do not fully address the needs of the event. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
