Taylor Swift’s managers have reportedly returned the $2.1-million fee that she was paid to headline the Capital Hoedown country music festival in Ottawa this summer, an industry source says.
The festival, originally scheduled to run from Aug. 10-12, was removed from her official website earlier this week and is no longer listed on her concert tour dates.
The festival has been plagued with problems almost from the outset.
Organizers missed three deadlines on payment to the city for the use of Kanata’s Walter Baker Park and several other artists have dropped out of the lineup.
The City of Ottawa terminated the festival’s use of Walter Baker Park after it failed to make a $150,000 payment that was due more than a week ago. Organizers claimed they had sent the money, but, up-on further investigation, the city found that the funds had not actually been delivered to its finance department.
Capital Hoedown will go on, but where it will take place is anybody’s guess. Organizers issued a news release Tuesday saying it would take place as scheduled in August, but with some significant changes.
They also said the three-day festival was moving to a private location “minutes away” from the original site of the city-owned Walter Baker Park.
However, they failed to mention the name of the new site, adding it would be revealed Monday, after all the details were finalized.
On Friday, the festival’s website at capitalhoedown.net carried a message that said information was being updated and asked visitors to check back in three days.
Hoedown organizers said changes to the musical lineup would also be announced shortly.
Country singer Ronnie Dunn is no longer in the lineup anymore and other artists such as Reba McEntire, The Band Perry and Terri Clark also do not list Capital Hoedown on their official tour websites.
An estimated 15,000 country-music fans bought tickets to the festival. Many have been wondering since they purchased tickets through Front Gate Tickets, a U.S. ticket agency, whether they will get refunds if the festival doesn’t happen. Front Gate Tickets has apparently stopped selling tickets to the festival because of the uncertainty.
Ticket holders who are unhappy with the changes being proposed to the festival lineup will be entitled to a full re-fund starting June 19.
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