Joe GallopOrganisers of independent music, health and wellbeing festival Lovefit have announced the closure of the event due to rising costs.
Lovefit, which took place at the St Clere Estate in Sevenoaks, Kent, joins a growing list of recent festival cancellations including Doonhame, Barn On The Farm and NASS.
Lovefit organisers said in a statement, “It is with a heavy heart and through teary eyes that we announce the next Lovefit has been cancelled and we have appointed a liquidator. The costs for this year have simply gone up too much — we just can’t afford it. The final quotes for this year’s festival have only recently come to us, and we’ve decided it would be irresponsible to continue to commit to something that we can’t be confident would go ahead.
“As a small family run business, Lovefit has been self-funded through family and friends. Though we tried our hardest, we never turned a profit with shortfalls being covered by personal finances. Any money made was reinvested into the festival. We didn’t take a penny out. Most of the organisation, build and set up was run by volunteers — again mostly friends and family. The work that we couldn’t do ourselves, we paid external companies to do.
“We thought things were looking up after the pandemic, but the business environment has changed so much for everyone, this has just become an impossible dream. We’d like to thank everyone that made Lovefit what it was — we hope it can be remembered as a great party that aimed to bring like minded people together over their passion for wellness.
“To our volunteers: through mud and rain, sun and sweat, you came together to build something magical, a debt that cannot be paid back.”