Keswick Mountain Festival 2023 cancelled over climate of 'spiralling costs'

Organisers of the Keswick Mountain festival have decided to cancel the 2023 event due to the cost of living crisis.

The annual festival will take a "year off" in 2023 with the hope of it returning in 2024.

Festival director Nicola Meadley said the "really difficult" decision had been taken as a result of rising costs.

She said: "We have looked at various scenarios to try and run the full festival as usual in 2023, but sadly, we drew the conclusion that pushing on and crossing our fingers for the best is too great a risk for everyone involved.

"Simply passing on our increasing costs to visitors and exhibitors is not the way that wewant to go.

"Meanwhile, unlike some other events, we don’t get financial help from local authorities, which is disappointing.

“In these circumstances, we would rather take this hard decision now, than take a chance and find ourselves in an untenable position in the lead up to the festival weekend.

"Not only would that put the whole future of the event at risk, it would also cause economic pain to our suppliers and exhibitors, and to the local business community, all of whom are important and much valued festival partners.

"We know that our brilliant festival-goers will be disappointed and we will really miss welcoming them to Keswick in 2023, but we also hope that they understand.”

The Keswick Mountain Festival offers a mix of outdoor activities and live music in the Lake District with sporting events like trail runs, triathlon, swimming, cycling and hiking taking place.

In a post on their website, organisers wrote: "The current economic conditions, spiralling costs for staging the event, and the significant squeeze on household disposable income, all mean that KMF would most likely incur an unsustainable loss in 2023, putting the whole existence of the festival in jeopardy.

"Organisers believe that it is more prudent to have a fallow year and then come back bigger and stronger in 2024."

They also said they will be working with Mountain Run to put on a 'KMF Trail Running Weekend' which will take place on the festival weekend of 20-21 May.

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