Reggae on the River @ Eel River

[Drunk Monk]

Troubled NorCal reggae festival reportedly canceled
By Filipa Ioannou
 Updated 12:10 pm PDT, Tuesday, June 18, 2019

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Reggae fans yielded to the beat and the heat at a past Reggae on the River Festival. Chronicle photo by Timothy Batt

Reggae on the River, the troubled Humboldt County reggae festival along the Eel River presented by High Times this year, has been canceled, organizers announced via [url=https://reggaeontheriver.com/]the event website this week.
"Refunds will be issued to all ticket holders within 10 business days," the site's landing page reads.
The festival, which dates back to the early 1980s, had been scheduled to take place August 2 to 4, 2019, with Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and Toots and the Mayals headlining.
In recent years, the once-popular festival, which served as a fundraiser for the Mateel Community Center, has run into issues with lackluster attendance, low ticket sales, and mounting debt. The 2017 festival lost $140,000, North Coast Journal reported.
It was only a few days ago that the festival was calling for 2019 volunteers via its Twitter page.  But now, High Times, which in 2018 signed a contract to produce the festival in partnership with the struggling community center, has reportedly pulled out.
"The Mateel Community Center is disappointed, shocked and saddened regarding the cancellation of Reggae on the River 2019. We are feeling the pain of the community for the loss of local income and much more a tradition," the community center's Board of Directors said in a statement.
They added that the community center will host a show the weekend that Reggae on the River was planned to take place.
SFGATE has reached out to the organizers for more information on the cancellation and will update when we hear back.

My phone and social media was blowin up yesterday.  People in shock asking me for details, as if I knew anything more.  I did hear from one of the lead promoters that it was cancelled that morning, hours prior to the 'official' announcement, but no details were given.