Montebello fest files for bankruptcy protection

Montebello Rockfest organizers filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday, less than a week after the final show of its 2018 edition, but music fans shouldn’t take this as the festival’s death knell.

Spokesperson Gilles Corriveau said late Thursday that the festival, in the red for more than $5 million, made the decision to carve out some breathing room and restructure the multi-day Quebec rock show for the future.

“It’s a long-term decision, it’s not a short-term decision; they want to find a way to organize everything correctly so that in the years to come, there will be a ... Rockfest," Corriveau said.

In a news release Thursday, festival organizers said they’re now focused on attracting new investors and maintaining positive relationships with performers.

“The bankruptcy protection gives them the opportunity for a few months to think about something else than paying people. The intention is to pay everybody,” Corriveau said.

From June 14 to 16, Rockfest drew more than 200,000 people to the small village halfway between Ottawa and Montreal. Ticket sales have grown steadily over the festival’s 13 years, according to Corriveau.

He said it’s too early to pinpoint exactly how the festival’s debts accumulated.

While Quebec police said this year’s festival went off relatively smoothly, the notable exception was the death of a 25-year-old Oshawa, Ont., man on the festival’s second day from an apparent overdose, according to the Sûreté du Québec. In 2017, Brockville festival-goer Hugh Hart, 60, was found dead of a heart attack in Montebello.