The cancellation of this major music festival event in Iowa is leaving a lot of people with questions.

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We've been keeping you updated about the cancellation of Iowa's leg of the Country Thunder music festival franchise.

Country Thunder Iowa's Beginnings

In 2020, Iowa was supposed to host the first Country Thunder Iowa festival. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 that festival in Forest City was scrapped. The new festival formerly known as Tree Town was pushed back and took place in June of 2021.

That initial festival featured music acts like Old Dominion, Kane Brown, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Hardy.

You can read more about the warning signs here.

Country Thunder Iowa 2021-2022

The music festival will not be returning in 2023. After only two festivals under its belt, Country Thunder Iowa brought in well-known country acts to the area.

Why Has It Been Scrapped?

The standard answer that festival officials gave for the cancelation is that "The event will not return to Forest City, Iowa in 2023."

No additional reason was given for the cancelation of the festival that brought in major money to the area. However, from the looks of things, the mayor of Forest City might have a bit more insight into the questions some of us have regarding this musical event.

What Do Local Officials Think of This?

In a recent report from Radio Iowa, Forest City mayor Ron Holland weighed in on what this could mean for the town. Holland even shared the reason that officials gave him for the festival cancelation: poor attendance.

The Country Thunder franchise apparently owes Heritage Park, the location of the Iowa music festival, money. This is all a part of the contract agreement made between the venue and the festival.

“They’re supposed to pay us 50% of it — the money that they owed us if they cancel it for this first year,” Mayor Holland shared with Radio Iowa.

City officials will continue to get this payment out of the franchise. The mayor also shared that they are hoping to bring another event to the town, but there is nothing official yet.

We will keep you updated as this story progresses.

Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake Iowa

Eli Young Band took the stage at the historic Surf Ballroom, in Clear Lake Iowa

 

 

 

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