Remember the Blue Ridge Rock Festival clusterfuck last September? If you don't, here's the story in a nutshell: The festival was cancelled halfway through allegedly due to severe weather in the area, but later reports surfaced about how staff threatened to strike due to unworkable conditions and that's what really caused the cancellation. At that time, Blue Ridge Rock Festival issued a statement denying anything but the weather caused the cancellation and not that they were "unable to offer more details at this time."
A few days later accusations of health issues arose, with The Virginia Department of Health starting an investigation about the festival, after numerous people reported gastrointestinal issues in the days after the event. Frustrations boiled over as the festival remained uncharacteristically quiet for months… until now.
Four days ago, the Blue Ridge Rock Festival team posted a statement on their social media channels, which you can read in its entirety below. According to the post – which by the way was restricted to prevent comments – the Blue Ridge Rock Festival team claims were bound by their insurance policy to remain mum until the claim for the storm-ravaged event was settled. "Receiving coverage for this magnitude takes time," they explained, with the first response expected in early 2024.
The statement acknowledges the "animosity" surrounding the situation and expresses empathy for the anger and confusion. They assure fans that "there's much more to this story" than what's been reported, suggesting a potential reveal once the insurance shackles are unchained.
"We are extremely sorry for the delay in providing a clear resolution for 2023's partial cancellation. We know that frustrations are continuing to compound, and fans deserve more communication and information from us. It has pained us immensely that we have not been permitted to do so thus far. For the first time, we have recently been given permission to issue this more complete statement."
"Our event had the benefit of festival interruption and abandonment insurance. Receiving coverage for a claim of this magnitude takes a considerable amount of time. The firms representing the Festival expect a response to the claim in the first quarter of 2024 or shortly thereafter. After the response from the insurance companies, we will update all of you and begin the process of providing complete resolutions for everyone. Our insurance policy has language restricting our public pronouncements until the claim is settled. This is the reason we have largely been silent. It has been incredibly difficult to not publicize evidence to refute many of the reports surrounding the Festival. However, we are unwilling to jeopardize the recovery of the policy for you the fans, prejudice our rights, or prejudice the insurance carriers' rights. We eagerly await the moment when we can provide full transparency."
"The unanticipated, sudden, and extraordinary storms, which put fans, crews, bands, and the event in grave danger were incredibly unfortunate. The damage caused by these storms has yet to be fully revealed. Despite the time this process has taken, we have not stopped working diligently on your behalf. The moment we have the authority, we will address everything in full. This has been brutal for all of us. We continue to work tirelessly to ensure a timely resolution and have taken every step possible on our end to shorten the process."
"We fully understand the animosity that many of you have towards this situation. There is so much more to this story than what has come to light. A special thank you to those of you who have continued to support us during these hard times. Your patience and grace has been a testament to the passionate community that surrounds this event and built it to the largest on the continent. It goes without saying that we would be nothing without each of you."
Will there really be more to the story than meets the eye? At this point, we don't even know what to think. Let's see how much longer thousands of fans hoping for refunds have to wait for this saga to reach its conclusion, and hopefully, their patience is met with a satisfying resolution.
