Portland officials voted 7-0 Monday to indefinitely postpone action on a two-day music festival that was to be held in July 2023 in Payson Park. Gabe Souza/Staff Photographer
Portland officials say the sponsor of a proposed two-day music festival in Payson Park has decided not to move forward with the idea.
The festival drew both excitement and concern from the public last fall after C3 Presents, a division of concert promotion giant Live Nation, submitted an application to the city for a two-day, two-stage festival expected to draw between 10,000 and 20,000 people per day.
The council voted in November to postpone action on the festival, saying they would revisit the proposal after C3 Presents agreed to move their plans ahead by a year, to July 2024.
A city staff memo to the council presented Monday said that, “since this order was postponed, the sponsor let the Department of Parks, Recreation & Facilities know it would not be moving forward with the festival.”
Councilors voted 7-0 Monday to indefinitely postpone action on the festival. Councilors Mark Dion and April Fournier were absent.
A phone message left and emails sent to C3 Presents on Monday asking about the status of the festival were not returned. City Manager Danielle West and Mayor Kate Snyder said after Monday’s meeting that they had not received any additional information from C3.
The council received more than 150 pages of written public comment on the proposal last fall. Some people said the festival would present an opportunity to boost local business and tourism, while others said they worried about traffic, parking and the impact on the park and surrounding neighborhood.
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