Rhondda Arts Festival (RAFT) has announced it's had to cancel this year's Bank Holiday event as tickets haven't been selling.
The event was set to take place between August 27 and August 29 at Ystradfechan Recreation Ground in Treorchy and had planned to feature a variety of entertainment.
Two outdoor cinema events were set to take place, and Mica Paris and Lloyd Macey were among the line up preparing to take to the stage to perform live for a special bank holiday show. You can read more about that here.
Sadly, with less than two weeks to go, organisers have announced they've had to pull the plug on the event as tickets aren't being snapped up.
A statement released by RAFT said: "We’re really sorry to have to announce that, unfortunately, we are going to have to cancel the 2021 August Bank Holiday 'RAFT Big Weekend' event in Treorchy.
"With the lifting of coronavirus related restrictions last month, we were determined to try and put together a great festival this summer, if we possibly could.
"Unfortunately, with the very limited lead time to the event, advance ticket sales just haven’t been at the level we’d hoped for and, regrettably, we are now forced to cancel.
"All advance ticket sales will be refunded in full, and ticket holders should now have received notification of that refund via email. Any ticket holders with any queries on this, please do contact us direct at raftfestival@gmail.com."
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The team said they are "incredibly grateful" to everyone who purchased advance tickets, and who were planning to attend the event.
Organisers said they are also "indebted to all our fantastic artists and suppliers for their support and understanding in these challenging circumstances", together with the festival’s many principal supporters, which include Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, Arts Council Wales, Welsh Government, Colwinston Trust, Pen Y Cymoedd and the Moondance Foundation.
The statement continued: "Without their support - and yours - we simply wouldn’t have been able to sustain the festival through the past very challenging two years.
"RAFT will be back in 2022 however. The festival will be returning to its usual June/July slot, with the Big Weekend planned for June 24-26, and the wider arts festival running around that in smaller venues throughout the Rhondda from June 3 to July 3.
"We’ll keep everyone fully informed of our plans and will be holding a series of public consultations across the Rhondda and online, supported by the Arts Council of Wales, in the early autumn."
