After 6 years, Ponderosa Festival says final curtain may be near

The Ponderosa Festival in B.C.'s Southern Interior ishaving a tough year so tough in fact, this may be the last year the event goes ahead.

That'sbecause for the first time ever, co-founders say, the Rock Creek, B.C., music festival's ticket sales have not grown.

"It is so discouraging for us, as continued growth has been one of the major motivating factors for us to carry on," co-founders Kris Hargrave and Kia Zahrabi wrote in an email to fans.

"At this point, with less than three weeks to go, it is looking very likely that 2018 will be the last Ponderosa Festival. We're heading towards another year of heavy losses and we simply will not be able to hold on any longer."

Hargrave and Zahrabi say the event which has featured performers like k-os, Yukon Blonde, The Courtneys, Fake Shark, Pack A.D., Louise Burns and dozens of other artists over the years could see $80,000 in losses this year alone.

The event, Hargrave says, has no corporate sponsors and heand Zahrabi have paid for the losses out of their own pockets.

Searching for answers

In an interview with Radio West guest host Josh Pag, Hargrave said it's unclear why the festival has seena decline in salesentering its sixth year.

He believes it might be symptomatic of wider trends other music festivals have faced. Both the Sasquatch and Pemberton music festivals have folded.

"It seems like the live music festival is kind of taking a backseat to things like [electronic music festival] Basscoast," he said.

"It's hard to know if it's competition or just where people are spending their money."

The festival was called off in 2015 due to wildfires but Hargrave said the two festivals after that saw increasing sales.

"The excitement was there," he said. "We kinda went after this as the year that maybe Ponderosa turns a new chapter and maybe gets a little more sustainable."

Hargrave says the 2018 festival needs to sell about 500 more tickets to break even. The festival runs Aug. 17-19.

Listen to the full story:

With files from CBCRadio One's Radio West

Read more from CBC British Columbia