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music festival due to be held across a Welsh town this weekend has been cancelled - five minutes before it was due to start. The Gwên Gwen Festival was due to take place in the Carmarthenshire town of Kidwelly on Friday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday. Described as an “independent music and art festival” which “showcases predominantly Welsh talent, from bands and spoken word artists to talented craftspeople, entertainers and incredible handmade food and drink produce”, the event took place in the town last year and was all set for a 2023 return this weekend. To get the latest What's On newsletters from WalesOnline, click here . However, organisers announced on Friday evening that they were “devastated” to confirm that the festival had been cancelled. According to the event’s
Facebook page and ticketing site Eventbrite, the festival was due to get underway at 6pm on Friday, but at 5.55pm a statement was posted on Facebook confirming the event’s cancellation. Read more: People banned from gathering in town after 'horrendous' behaviour The statement read: “We are truly devastated to announce that Gwên Gwen Festival 2023 has been cancelled. The team have worked tirelessly over the past 9 months, especially this week under extremely challenging circumstances with weather making the site build difficult and as a result of these challenges and the associated added extra costs, we have made the very difficult decision to cancel the event. "This is not a decision we have taken lightly and sincerely apologise for the disappointment this will cause. We want to thank all the ticket holders, volunteers, artists, traders, contractors, security and everyone who has helped under extremely difficult circumstances and gone above and beyond to make this work. All refunds are currently being processed and an email will be sent to all ticket holders, these will all be processed with immediate effect, please allow five to seven working days for the money return to your account. Again, we apologise for this disappointment.” Lots of would-be festival-goers reacted angrily to the announcement, with people saying they were “gutted” at the news. Among those who were due to perform at the festival were English
Singer Example, who had two
UK number one singles in 2011. Organisers of the Gwên Gwen Festival have said they will release a statement with further details about the cancellation on Monday. Keep up to date with what's on where you live