Pitch Music and Arts Festival has announced that the remainder of its event has been cancelled, citing the extreme fire danger warning Victoria has been issued for Sunday afternoon and Monday.
On Sunday at around 4pm, the sold-out Victorian music festival — which was held at Moyston, 220kms north of Melbourne — shared an Instagram post announcing that the remainder of this year’s festivities have been canned.
“Through consultation with authorities, we have been directed to cancel the remainder of Pitch Music & Arts 2024 in light of an updated extreme fire danger warning issued this afternoon for tomorrow (Monday, March 11),” the statement began.
“We have consistently followed the guidance of relevant authorities throughout the entire process.”
Further in the statement, the festival assured attendees that they’re not in “immediate danger” and that no one should rush to leave the site.
“Nobody is in immediate danger. We encourage everyone on site not to rush, calmly pack-up and depart either this evening or early tomorrow,” the statement continued.
“For those who have travelled in their own vehicle, please ensure you have a sober and rested driver.
“For those who came by other means of transport, additional buses to Ararat are being organised today, and commence again from 6am tomorrow.
Regarding inquiries on refunds, Pitch Music and Arts Festival assured that folks will receive “an update as more information becomes available” and that its top priority is to get all attendees home safely.
Prior to Pitch’s official cancellation on Sunday, the sold-out festival made two separate social media posts — Friday and Saturday –warning punters about the extreme weather forecasts in Victoria.
On both IG posts, concerned festivalgoers called for organisers to nix the whole event and issue refunds. Especially after Saturday’s post, where the festival announced that the programme would be delayed to 6pm due to extreme weather conditions.
As of writing, there are currently no active fires in the vicinity of the festival.
However, on Saturday, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) issued a heatwave warning for the whole state of Victoria.
Some parts of the state saw max temperatures of 40℃, with Moyston reaching 35.9℃ today.
Just last month, 16,000 hectares of bushland was destroyed in Western Victoria after bushfires ripped through the region.
In 2019, Falls Festival faced a similar situation, with the call being made to cancel the event due to extreme weather conditions.
Image source: 9News
