Ever After Music Festival Cancels After Being Denied Permits

Ever After Music Festival organizers announced their decision to cancel this year’s event, now only a week away, the Canadian electronic dance music festival was to take place at Burl’s Creek in Oro-Medonte on Friday, August 12-14.

Event organizers stated that after two years of working “tirelessly to plan and execute the biggest and best edition of Ever After,” they relocated to Burl’s Creek Event Grounds to improve festival goers’ camping options and provide a more accessible experience. The decision to relocate may have been detrimental to the festival’s execution. “...Despite our tremendous investment of time, effort, commitment and money, we have been met with a series of obstacles from several key third parties that will prevent this event from moving forward as planned,” reads the statement from the organizers.

“We took every step necessary to satisfy the special event permit requirements. Our festival with 1/3 the attendance and 1/10th of the campers had requirements levied on it far greater than the event just one week before and still, we were met with rejections. Our traffic plan was the same as the event before us, our security team was the same as the event before us, as many other parts of our plan, and the venue was purpose-built for this type of event. Let us be clear, this is not our decision to cancel, we have been forced to cancel by third parties.”

While organizers continue to blame “third parties,” many continue to speculate on the reason for the late cancellation and the future of Ever After. The Township of Orodonte explained in a statement what happened in the months leading up to Ever After’s cancellation.

“Over the past several months, Township staff and agency partners have communicated with representatives from the Festival for the purpose of providing logistical assistance to facilitate the development of an acceptable operational plan that is required for the issuance of a Special Event Permit by the Township.”

The Mayor denied the Festival’s event permit last week after it was discovered that none of the agencies required to sign off on the festival’s operational plans had approved.

“Given the incomplete status of the operational plan submitted by the organizers for the Festival, the ability to implement appropriate controls and public safety measures and requirements within an appropriate time frame prior to commencement of the Festival, and potential adverse impacts to public health and safety and security of attendees, performers, vendors, and residents; the Township’s agency partners could not approve the operational plan for the Festival,” the statement issued by the Township’s council reads.

The Ever After team has announced that all ticket buyers will receive an email in the following week that details information for options concerning their orders.