By The Canadian Press

Bankruptcy forces organizers of British Columbia music festival to cancel event

May 18, 2017 | 4:12 PM

VANCOUVER — The Pemberton Music Festival in British Columbia has filed for bankruptcy and this year’s event has been cancelled.

Those who have already bought tickets to the event that was scheduled to start July 13 may also be out of luck when it comes to getting a quick refund.

A statement posted on the festival website says because the partnership that organizes the festival is in bankruptcy, it has no ability to provide refunds.

It says ticket holders can file a claim as an unsecured creditor, but estimates that process would take several weeks to resolve itself.

Financial services firm Ernst & Young Inc. was appointed as a trustee to oversee the process. A statement on its website said ticket sales did not meet expectations this year and a weak Canadian dollar caused troubles for the festival as many of its entertainment costs had to be paid in American dollars.

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The statement also noted the festival had trouble attracting talent for this year’s festival because of a limited number of artists who were touring in 2017.

Tens of thousands of people took in last year’s event.  The festival was first held in 2008, but took a five year hiatus between 2009 and 2013. The event suffered significant losses in each of the previous three years

The Canadian Press