Osfest music festival is switched to August
One of Shropshire's biggest music festivals has been moved to a new date in August – just two weeks before it was due to be held.
The organisers of Osfest 2014 have made the decision in the hope of attracting more visitors.The event, which attracts thousands of music lovers to Oswestry Showground, has been moved from the end of May Bank Holiday to August 9 and 10.
Mike Scott, Osfest managing director, said the move had been made due to the event clashing with other big music festivals such as Radio 1's Big Weekend. He added fears over the weather and that many revellers have exams had also played a part in the decision.
But the plan has been questioned by people on Facebook and Twitter due to the short notice of the move and fears it will now clash with other similar events in the county, such as Farmer Phil's Festival held in Ratlinghope.
Organisers declined to say how many tickets have already been sold for the event.
The festival had booked chart topping stars including Union J, Conor Maynard, Wiley, Nina Nesbitt, Luke Friend and Foxes to appear.
All of the acts already confirmed will still be performing with the exception of Wilkinson.
Tickets with the correct dates will be issued at the end of May. Anyone who has bought a ticket through an agent should contact the organising team via the website www.osfest.co.uk to arrange collection of a new ticket.
Any ticketholders who are unable to make the new dates are advised to make contact through the website.
Mr Scott said: "When Osfest started in 2009 we were one of very few festivals on the May Bank Holiday weekend which was our main reason for choosing these dates.
"More recently other festivals, some major ones and most notably Radio 1's Big Weekend have moved to the same weekend which is making things increasingly difficult from an organisational aspect.
"It is also GCSE and university exam time and with a good percentage of our audience being from this age group, we feel that moving to the early part of the summer holidays will take away difficult decisions for them when deciding whether to come to Osfest or not.
"And of course let's not forget the good old British weather. An August date should bring warmer and drier weather. All round a move to early August makes sense.
