Another Beloved Festival Has Been Cancelled Due To Extreme Weather Conditions

16 August 2022 | 9:10 am | Parry Tritsiniotis
Originally Appeared In

The growing risk of extreme weather events is just another unfortunate factor that promoters must consider when throwing a festival, amidst strict licensing laws, COVID scares and strong police presence.

Beloved NSW festival Output had big plans for 2022, expanding their 1 day format to an entire weekend across the 25th-27th of November. 

The festival has unfortunately revealed the bad news that they will have to cancel this years new edition of the festival.

They posted on Instagram stating, "due to extreme weather conditions, high flooding and severe damage caused to the proposed festival site, it is with huge sadness that we must cancel Output Weekender 2022."

The festival had already been postponed from the Easter long weekend following devastating floods in the Hawkesbury River area. 

The cancellation of Output Weekender continues a growing, scary trend of festivals being cancelled or effected by weather. Splendour In The Grass this year saw its first day cancelled due to severe weather forecasts and significant damage to its festival site. The Byron area saw an unprecedented amount of rain over what was meant to be its dry season, causing the festival to be tokened as Splendour In The Mud.

In 2019, Lost Paradise had to make the difficult decision to cancel their New Years festival. Bushfires ravaged the country during that period of time. In a statement they stated, “Our beautiful home in Sydney’s Central Coast is facing intense and unpredictable fire conditions that are sadly expected to deteriorate in the coming days,

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“We simply cannot put anyone’s life at risk. We have been working around the clock to explore all possible options to relocate the festival, but it is just not feasible within the timeframe."

During the same summer, Falls Festival in Lorne needed to be cancelled due to extreme heat amid the risk of bushfires. Falls stated that "a risk to health and safety due to potential fires, smoke, severe winds and tree hazards.

"We are gutted to make this call but the safety of our patrons, artists and staff is our main priority."

The growing risk of extreme weather events is just another unfortunate factor that promoters must consider when throwing a festival, amidst strict licensing laws, COVID scares and strong police presence.