Port Macquarie's Festival of the Sun (FOTSUN) has been cancelled.
The music festival was planned to go ahead in December, but has been called off after the organisers issued a statement saying the threat of heavy rainfall has made the much-loved event once again untenable.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has today, September 13, declared a La Nina event is officially underway for the third consecutive year after predicting in August that there would be at least a 70 per cent chance of La Nina forming again later this year - triple the normal likelihood.
The three-day festival, that's held at the Port Macquarie Breakwall Holiday Park every year, made its long-awaited return in May after it was forced to skip 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19.
The organisers were hoping to put the show on for the second time this year from December 8-10 and had already announced the line-up of artists, which featured the likes of Peking Duk, Vera Blue, Cosmo's Midnight and Confidence Man.
However, the threat of La Nina returning this summer has forced them to cancel.
"Our concerns on the forecast of another bloody season of La Nina this summer are very real," the organisers said in a statement.
"La Nina has devastated our East Coast community over the few seasons, water tables are still at an all time high.
"We believe that the atrocious weather forecasted in November and December, for the east coast between Central coast and Byron Bay, is just not a risk we are willing to take for our fans, our artists and our crew.
"We decided to make this decision with enough lead time to minimise any travel plan inconvenience. We want to thank everyone for their love for FOTSUN and we will see you again in the future, we promise."
All current ticket holders are in the process of being refunded.
