Folk Festival Announces Cancellation

The 2024 edition of Western Australia’s beloved folk festival, Fairbridge, has been cancelled, with organisers citing “lagging ticket sales, increased production costs” and a lack of volunteers.

The event was due to take place from Friday, 5 to Sunday, 7 April. The cancellation of this year’s edition of the festival comes after the 2023 edition was also cancelled, with Fairbridge moving from its traditional venue of Fairbridge Village near Pinjarra to a brand-new spot of the Edenvale Heritage Precinct in Pinjarra.

All ticket holders will be automatically refunded.

FolkWorld Inc., the organisation that runs the Fairbridge Folk Festival, issued the following statement on social media and its website:

FolkWorld is heartbroken to announce the 2024 Fairbridge Festival has been forced to cancel. 

Lagging ticket sales, increased production costs and as importantly, insufficient volunteers to put on a Festival of this kind, have meant the much-loved Fairbridge Festival is unable to proceed in 2024.

The Board and Team behind the Fairbridge Festival would like to thank everyone who has supported the Festival and we are hopeful of bringing it back again in the future – watch this space! 

All ticket sales will be automatically refunded. If you have any questions, please email hello@folkworld.com.au 

With love, The FolkWorld Team

In a press release, FolkWorld Inc. President Jane Aberdeen added, “We carefully weighed up all risks, considered advice from staff about lagging ticket sales, increased costs, and, as important, insufficient volunteers, and decided the Festival could not proceed. We have worked tirelessly to identify potential solutions and thank Festival Partner, the Shire of Murray, the state government, and our membership for their ongoing collaboration.

“We would like to extend this thanks to everyone who has supported the Festival and we look forward to sharing music, dance and camaraderie with you at our other events planned throughout the year and future festivals.”

The new Fairbridge Festival site is located just five kilometres from its original Fairbridge Village locale and is situated less than an hour away from Perth and Bunbury by car.

This year’s Fairbridge Festival was led by Irish troubadour Luka Bloom, Norwegian act Gangar, Australian-Canadian duo Shark & Fox, brothers Gordie Tentrees & Jaxon Haldane, clown pirates The Chipolatas and more.