A long-running Wilmington fall festival won't be held in 2026, according to organizers.
On Sept. 2, the Wilmington Riverfest, which was first held in 1979, issued a news release saying its board of directors had voted unanimously to cancel the 2026 festival, which had been scheduled for Oct. 3-4 in downtown Wilmington.
According to the release, the cancellation is "due to untenable venue logistics and public safety constraints imposed by recent municipal decisions."
In the release, festival director Roderick Bell pledged to relaunch the festival in 2027.
"We are returning in 2027 with a festival that exceeds expectations rather than compromise the quality and safety our stakeholders deserve," Bell said.
The release said that Riverfest had been working
with the city since April on a plan to move the bulk of festival activities from Front Street to an area in downtown's Northside at Brunswick and Nutt streets.
"The proposed layout at Brunswick and Nutt streets presents insurmountable operational and safety barriers," the release stated, including limited entry points for delivery vehicles and "competing events" nearby at the Wilmington Convention Center and Cape Fear Community College's Wilson Center.
In addition, "Keeping major intersections open during a festival of Riverfest's scale creates unacceptable gridlock that violates sound event management," the release stated.
It added while the city approved "the most limited of the board's alternate layouts on Aug. 31, the date was too late for festival planning purposes. … The board and committee leadership remains hopeful about coming to a collaborative resolution with the city of Wilmington" so that a 2027 festival can be held.
In an emailed statement, Amy Passaretti Willis, communications manager for the city of Wilmington, said that "we were disappointed to learn that this year’s Riverfest will not move forward. The city had been working closely with organizers to support this year’s event, and we look forward to continuing that partnership as we plan for a successful event in 2027."
Willis said, "we believe it is important to clarify the timeline and the extent of the city’s efforts to accommodate all elements of Riverfest."
According to the city's statement, "City staff have been working with Riverfest organizers since early spring to identify a workable location while accounting for anticipated construction on the Front Street Bridge. During that time, the city offered multiple solutions designed to accommodate the elements organizers told us they wanted to include."
On Aug. 17, Willis said, Riverfest organizers learned they would not be able to use a parking lot behind the Wilson Center, once used for Azalea Festival concerts, because of events there. "City staff again adjusted and worked to identify options that could accommodate the festival despite this new constraint," Willis said. "Riverfest ultimately continued to prefer a footprint along Front Street. Because the city could not permit a stage in the middle of the street because of fire safety requirements, Riverfest organizers submitted an updated plan in late August. The city granted conditional approval on Aug. 31."
The statement went on to say that "for more than four months, right up until this week, the city has continued to work in good faith to find solutions as the festival’s needs and available spaces changed. At no point during those conversations were city staff told that a final decision was required by July or that the 2026 festival was at risk of cancellation if that deadline was not met."
Willis added that "we look forward to working together on the 2027 festival, when we anticipate the unusual space constraints affecting this year’s event will no longer be an issue."
After going off without a hitch for about three and a half decades, Riverfest has been disrupted numerous times since 2015.
That year, heavy rains washed out the festival. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew blew Riverfest into mid-November. In 2018, the festival was again postponed to mid-November, this time due to Hurricane Florence.
The festival was also not held for two years, in 2020 and 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
John Staton is the arts and culture reporter for the StarNews. You can reach him at jstaton@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: As Riverfest blames Wilmington for cancellation, city responds
