Karoondinha, a music and arts festival that was slated to happen July 21-23 near Penn State University has been cancelled due to unmet expectations when it came to ticket sales. This resulted in costs for the small festival to skyrocket, forcing the event’s coordinators to pull the plug.
According to Billboard, siblings Kaleena and Paul Rallis raised $5 million to host the festival at Penn’s Cave & Wildlife Park in Centre Hall, Pennsylvania.
The duo booked acts such as Chance the Rapper, John Legend and The Roots to headline, and they projected ticket sales to be between 25,000 to 30,000. However, sales reportedly did not come close. The official website and Twitter account of the festival have both been taking down, and vendors were notified of the news.
“We’re looking at other options at this moment and hope we can make something happen in some way,” said Paul Rallis. “We’re not walking away from the vision of the idea in any way, because our commitment is still to make something great happen in this area — it’s just not going to take place on the scheduled days.”
The Deep Roots Mountain Revival Festival will honor Karoondinha ticket holders. Deep Roots will take place in West Virginia from July 20-22, and will feature musicians such as Brandi Carlile and Sam Bush.
“All three-day and four-day Karoondinha ticket holders will be able to exchange their passes for three-day general admission passes at the gate,” according to the festival’s website. “Single day pass holders may exchange for any of Deep Roots Mountain Revival’s general admission one-day passes.