Producer cites pinch to local economy and critical mass of fall events in the local area as reasons for abandoning the Columbus Jazz and Blues Festival's September dates and postponing the event until Spring 2009.

Citing the continuing recession that faces both the entire U.S. economy as well as that of the host city, the chief organizer of the Columbus Jazz and Blues Festival has announced that the event will be postponed until the spring of 2009.

The event, which was to take place at Riverside Park in Columbus, Mississippi, would have had its second annual fall run had it proceeded as planned, initially being scheduled for September 26th and 27th. The first edition of the festival was considered by most involved to be a definite success, and the Columbus Convention and Visitors' Bureau had set aside $7,500 for this year's Jazz and Blues Festival, with half of that already given to the festival's organizers. Since the announcement of the postponement, the Bureau has requested that this first installment of its grant be paid back, and the organizer has stated that he will comply with the Bureau's request and conditions.

With a very small amount of fans expected to show up even in a best-case scenario and a trend of belt-tightening appearing among individual as well as corporate donors throughout this summer, both the executive board of the Foundation that acts as the festival's own private bank and the organizers' advisory committee decided that giving the final green-light to the festival's September dates would create a responsibility for them that would by prohibitively irresponsible from a social standpoint.  Read more »