Wolvestock never stood chance of going ahead, claims former mayor
A former Mayor who backed the scrapped Wolvestock festival from its launch two decades ago said today: "It never had a chance this year."
The city's annual country music event was due to be held on July 26 and 27 but the plug was pulled on it by the city council yesterday because of poor ticket sales.
The festival that was originally free had been held in the open air at Hickman Park in Bilston and East Park but this year – its 20th anniversary – was scheduled to take place at the city centre Civic and Wulfrun Halls with secure camping at West Park. Day tickets for the event had been advertised at £11 and weekend passes at £18. Councillor Malcolm Gwinnett claimed: "It was doomed from the moment somebody decided to move an outdoor festival indoors.That was madness."
Traders at last year's Wolvestock in East Park blamed the drop in takings and attendance on a new £6 entry fee, introduced to try to raise £10,000.
Councillor Gwinnett added: "The news it was to be scrapped this year came as no surprise to me. I knew it would never get off the ground after I heard what they were planning this time. I do not think we will see another Wolvestock in the city unless some private company takes on the responsibility of staging it. They killed it last year by introducing such a high entry fee. Local people were not going to pay that to go into their local park. If they had made a more reasonable charge they would have got far more through the gate and made their money that way. But they killed the fatted calf by charging too much and putting lots of people off.
"Now a bad situation has just been made worse. It is very sad because it was a brilliant event for people who enjoyed rock and roll and country music. There were 30,000 people at the festival in 2012. It helped to put Wolverhampton on the map. I would like to think that the city council will rethink their approach to the Wolvestock in future – but I am not holding my breath."
Groups lined up for the 2014 Wolvestock included the Lisa Stanley Band, and the John Taylor Band. Wolverhampton City Council has said that face-value refunds are available at the point of purchase.
"Doomed from the moment somebody decided to move an outdoor festival indoors" - what do you think? Comment below.
