North Wales Festival takes a sabbatical in 2017

The BIB learns with great regret, from the latest issue of British Bluegrass News magazine, that after twenty-eight years the North Wales Bluegrass Festival will not be held this year, for reasons explained on the festival's website and Facebook. They include increased outlay, coupled with loss of facilities and local-authority funding.

The North Wales Festival, a 'Festival of Friends', has to date been going longer than any other bluegrass event in Britain; it has been for many years one of the best showcases of British bluegrass talent; and it has always been the most accessible festival in Britain for bluegrassers coming from Ireland. We're glad to see this ending to the organisers' announcement:

We would like to thank all our loyal friends who have supported us throughout the past 28 years, and we will be constantly reviewing the options to possibly organise a North Wales Bluegrass Festival in 2018.