Country Jam & Campout abruptly canceled
WCOL’S Country Jam & Campout — scheduled for Aug. 16-17 at Legend Valley in Thornville — has been canceled “due to unforeseen circumstances,” according to the festival website. All fans will be issued refunds on or before Friday.
WCOL said the promoter made the decision to cancel this year's event. “We are just as disappointed as you and look forward to resuming the show in 2020” the station said in a Facebook post. The radio station did not immediately respond Friday to The Dispatch’s call seeking additional information.
The music festival production company Global Synergy Entertainment appears to be affiliated with Country Jam, sharing the lineup in a Facebook post on April 1. The organization has not made a public statement about the cancellation, and its website is currently under construction.
The country extravaganza was to be headlined by Jason Aldean and Old Dominion. Neither act has spoken publicly about the cancellation, but Aldean did retweet the WCOL announcement.
“When I woke up this morning, my friend had tagged me on Facebook with the announcement that came from 92.3 (WCOL),” said Jackie Tullis, a 54-yearold resident of Urbana. “I don't think I got any emails saying that it was canceled, but I did get the email saying that my refund was coming to me.”
A fan of WCOL, Tullis said it would have been her first time to the festival. She’d planned a trip with several co-workers and made arrangements to stay at a friend’s house near the venue.
“I'm pretty disappointed,” Tullis said. “I don't understand why a big producer like that would cancel a show so close to the end. I'm wondering what happened.”
Powell resident Taylor Cox, 27, said she had purchased a camping pass with seven other people.
“This was going to be our first time and we are celebrating three different birthdays and trying to use this as a way to kind of get away,” she said. “So it's kind of a big letdown.”
Cox said the cancellation will make her think twice about buying tickets to Lost Lands, another music festival at Legend Valley, scheduled for September.
Tullis and Cox were among a growing chorus of agitated patrons who took to Facebook and Instagram to express their unhappiness over the cancellation.
“People are upset because there's not a lot of information being given,” Cox said. “People plan for this. They take off work to find babysitters, spend money. Some people have to get hotels. … It's not right. So hopefully they figure it out or just move it to a different venue.”