Cropredy called off but festival lives to fight another day

Cropredy is the latest festival to fall. The director of the annual bash north of Oxford, Gareth Williams, has written to Fairporters this morning (Monday, June 28) to say the organisers have run out of time to stage Fairport’s Cropredy Convention this year.

"We’re left with no other choice than to postpone our festival until 11-13 August 2022. We have reached the point where we’d need to spend BIG money without any certainty we could go ahead," he said.

"Like the rest of the festival industry, we’ve tried everything we can to keep going but I’m afraid we would be placing Cropredy’s future in serious jeopardy if we were to wait any longer. The dilemma we are facing is very simple – go ahead and risk potentially going out of business or postpone for a year and live to fight another day.

"So far, despite over six months of lobbying, the government has failed to support any form of Covid-related cancellation insurance scheme for the festival industry. Also, there has been no guidance on what mitigations might be required post Step 4. This has made it effectively impossible to plan this year’s event.

"I have spoken to all the acts booked for Cropredy this year. They (and their representatives) have provisionally agreed to transfer the bookings to the same days and times in 2022. This means we will carry forward the same great line-up into 2022. I am sincerely grateful to the acts, their managers and agents for their understanding and support."

All tickets purchased for the 2020 and 2021 festivals will roll over to 2022 and this will help keep the festival going throughout the coming months while plans for next summer go ahead. Those who can't attend in 2022 will be entitled to a refund*.

The festival has benefited from Culture Recovery Fund grants which have filtered through to their suppliers and helped them keep going through these lean times.

Gareth Williams added: "The last 15 months have been an incredibly frustrating time for all musicians and Fairport are no exception. We are obviously in regular contact and I know they were really looking forward seeing everyone at Cropredy next month. Having to postpone comes as a bitter blow to them.

"This is a pretty emotional time in the Festival Office as you can imagine. It is the second festival I have had to postpone – on my watch! However, I promise that we will return and when we do it will be AMAZING!"

*If you can’t roll your tickets over to 2022 and require a refund, please contact The Ticket Factory. A link will be posted later today on the websbite https://www.fairportconvention.com/. Cropredy is not the only festival to postpone in the last few days so please be patient with The Ticket Factory staff who are all still working from home. Your funds are secure and they will deal with your claim as quickly as they can.