Music festival could be scrapped

An annual music festival in Wolverhampton could be scrapped after 14 years in the city after revellers were told to pay for tickets for the first time in its history, it emerged today.

Bosses behind the annual Wolvestock country music festival announced that a £12-per-day admission charge was being introduced in a bid to claw back council cash.

But it emerged that bosses were already preparing for poor ticket sales and could be forced to scrap the event in East Park if sales do not pick up. They are monitoring the sales of tickets until the end of the month before making a final decision.

If the festival is axed, bosses have vowed that a folk concert would be held on a smaller scale as part of another extravaganza in the city.

They are currently drawing up plans to relaunch-launch the popular Bilston-By-The-Sea event, which was stopped in 2006 to allow the transformation of Hickman Park to go ahead, and said acts lined up from Wolvestock could appear there.

Councillor Malcolm Gwinnett, who helps organise a series of Wolverhampton's outdoor events, said: "We are still really hoping that ticket sales pick up for Wolvestock to allow it to go ahead as usual.

"It is a really popular event which attracts people from across the country, not just Wolverhampton, but we have had to introduce an admission fee because of how much it costs to run.

"Unfortunately with the recession people don't seem to buying as much generally and the sales have been slow. We really hope they pick up because it would be very sad if it couldn't go ahead on the scale it has in the past.

"The worst case scenario is that we would incorporate Wolvestock as part of another of our events such as Bilston-By-The-Sea which we are looking into bringing back.

"We will be waiting until the end of the month to look at ticket sales so we really hope more people buy them."

Bosses have always billed the two-day country music Wolvestock festival as the only one of its size and kind in the region to offer free admission and it annually attracts around 20,000 people to the city who transform the park into a sea of cowboy hats and camping chairs.

But bosses recently revealed the musical extravaganza cost around £21,000 each year to stage. The event is one of a series lined up to transform Wolverhampton's parks this summer. Vintage vehicles will once again be transforming West Park as preparations forge ahead for this year's steam extravaganza in Wolverhampton.

Around 40,000 visitors are expected at the steam and vintage rally, on June 6 and 7, which will feature military vehicles from the past and present and a Battle of Britain memorial flight as well as dozens of miniature battleships on show.

The Wolverhampton City Show will be held in West Park on July 11 and 12 featuring a host of demonstrations including motorcycle stunt display teams, The Royal Artillery Parachute Team and Big Pete's Monster Truck.