ATLANTA — Atlanta's Music Midtown festival has been canceled for 2022, according to their website.
Organizers on Monday posted that "due to circumstances beyond our control" they would no longer be hosting the event. The website said that ticket holders would receive refunds in the next 24 hours.
A possible reason for the cancelation points to Music Midtown's weapons policy that bans weapons "of any kind," conflicting with the state's gun laws.
Atlanta's Botanical Gardens won a suit in 2016 to ban guns on their property, but the lawyer representing the losing party said it had to do with whether the land was deemed private or public.
"If you're leasing public property on a short-term basis, like for a weekend festival or something like that, then you have to abide by the same rules that apply to the public entity," John Monroe said, who's an attorney and the Vice President of GA2A. "So in the case of Piedmont Park, which is owned by the City of Atlanta, the city cannot ban guns there."
The two-day festival has been a staple of Atlanta since 1994, and this year, it was supposed to be held Sept. 17-18 in the heart of the city at Piedmont Park.
Festival organizers said more than 30 artists from a vast variety of genres were going to perform.
Here's their complete statement from the website:
"Hey Midtown fans - due to circumstances beyond our control, Music Midtown will no longer be taking place this year. We were looking forward to reuniting in September and hope we can all get back to enjoying the festival together again soon.
Refunds will be processed automatically within the next 24 hours to the original method of payment. Please allow 7-10 business days for the refund to be processed by your bank. For any questions related to refunds, please visit contact.frontgatetickets.com."
11Alive is working to get more details behind what prompted the cancellation.
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