The 2024 ArtsWells festival has been postponed due to the nearby Antler Creek fire.
Wells was evacuated on July 21 due to the fire. The evacuation order was rescinded and an alert put in place on July 26.
"This would have been the first in-person ArtsWells in five years," a post on the festival's Facebook page read. "With the current state of the nearby wildfire, it is not safe to host an event of our size in the town of Wells."
The organization worked with the BC Wildfire Service and the District of Wells to determine the right course of action and decided to delay the festival.
"We don't have specific dates and details around rescheduling ArtsWells at this time, but we are exploring every direction we can to bring ArtsWells to the people in the future," said Elyssia Sasaki, the executive director of Island Mountain Arts which organizes the festival. She said their biggest focus now is the needs of the community in Wells.
ArtsWells is a festival where artists from different mediums including music, theatre, visual arts and dance come to the small community for a weekend of performing. In past years there were over 2,000 people including attendees, vendors, performers and volunteers. For its first big return to an in-person festival they were planning to have closer to 1,000 people in Wells.
The Antler Creek fire is still burning near the Wells and historic Barkerville. The July 29 update from BC Wildfire Service says it is 14,293 hectares. The BCWS says there are 129 people on the ground responding to the fire along with three helicopters.
