What The Festival Has Cancelled Its 2018 Edition

"Unfortunately this was a challenging year for us, and we need to take a break in 2018 to recenter and re-energize."

The crowd at What the Festival.
By Matthew Singer

What the Festival, the six-year-old electronic music festival held in Central Oregon, will not be returning in 2018.

"Unfortunately this was a challenging year for us, and we need to take a break in 2018 to recenter and re-energize so we can bring you another great event in the future," organizers announced on their Facebook page today.

The statement ends by saying "See you all in 2019," suggesting this is not the permanent end of the festival.

Posted by What The Festival on Friday, September 29, 2017

Voted "Oregon's most epic party" by Four Loko, What the Festival draws upwards of 5,000 people to Dufur, Ore., every summer. Acting as a sort of "EDM Pickathon," the festival is known for its art installations and for having a stage situated in what it claims is "the world's largest temporary wading pool."

While the precise reasons for canceling next year's festival are unclear, a Corvallis woman died at this year's installment in June, though founder W. Glen Boyd told The Dalles Chronicle that the death was "completely unrelated to the festival."

See Related: "The Past, Present and Future of What the Festival."

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