Long-running Spokane music festival Elkfest has been cancelled.
Festival organizers announced its cancellation on Monday via a Facebook post. The 3-day festival was planning its 14th year in Browne's Addition in June, but the festival hit road blocks in March when the City of Spokane asked the festival to hire five Spokane police officers for security, stemming from complaints. Hiring the officers would cause the festival budgetary concerns, according to the festival's director, Marshall Powell.
The City of Spokane said they had to reevaluate the festival since the small festival has grown so much over the years.
When we spoke with Powell in March, he said it wasn't the first time Elkfest has dealt with complaints, and was confident the show would go on.
But on Monday, the organizers said the success of the festival "proved to ultimately be its undoing."
"As you may have read in the previous weeks bringing so many smiling faces into our neighborhood has created concerns not only with the local government but also among our neighbors. While the city has been helpful in giving us the ability to meet the requirements they felt were necessary to keep things safe and sane the recent processes have brought to light that not everyone in our area has been enjoying Elkfest through these many years as much as we all have. Our neighbors are after all the backbone of our restaurant’s success and we need to be a good neighbor all 365 days a year, not just the 362 days Elkfest is not happening," the post reads.
You can read the whole post below:
(story: Matt Pusatory, KHQ Local News Web Producer; photo: KHQ.com)