Shambhala retracts cancellation, music festival went on for final night

Late Sunday morning, organizers of the Shambhala Music Festival in Salmo, BC reversed their decision to shut down the three-day event early due to the threat of a nearby wildfire.

But it was too late by then, as most of the 17,000 attendees had already heeded the warning issued the previous day to leave the site after it was confirmed that the festival’s last day on Sunday was cancelled.

An unexpected change in weather, with cool temperatures, rainfall, and a change in wind direction, were the reasons behind the decision to rescind the cancellation.

Organizers and government officials exercised extra caution a day earlier as the wildfire had grown in size from 185 acres earlier in the week to 865 acres. At the time, it was also much closer to the festival site; the wildfire was about 20 kms away before the festival started, but by Saturday it was only nine kms and had jumped the Salmo River.

Shambhala is one of the largest and longest-running music festivals in BC and the largest electronic music festival in the country. This year’s festival began on Friday, August 11.