Boutique Festival Cancelled Due To Fires

A boutique music festival set to take place in the alpine region of Victoria has announced its cancellation over the weekend as the area around Mt Hotham continues to be ravaged by bushfires.

The Cool Summer festival was set to take place at Mt Hotham from Friday 22 February to Sunday 24 but has been cancelled due to the blaze, organisers unable to move or postpone the event.

The festival made a statement on Saturday saying that they had been advised to pull the pin on the event due to road closures caused by the mammoth blaze, which is now said to be over 22,500 hectares in size.

“The government run D.S.E has recommended that all upcoming events and activities in the area around Hotham are to be cancelled and all roads to the area are closed and unlikely to open for some time,” the statement said.

While organisers were quick to try and put together a contingency plan that would shift the festival from its location on the mountain, the logistics made it an unfeasible proposition.

“Over the last two days, the Cool Summer Crew have been working around the clock to try and implement a contingency plan, which would involve relocating the festival off the mountain. Despite all our efforts, this will not be possible due to the number of legal requirements and safety measures that would need to be in place.”

The community funded festival has been running since 2008 and this year had secured a line up with bands like Loon Lake, Stonefield, Eagle & The Worm, Kingswood, Lloyd Spiegel and more.