Organizer Of Canceled Country Roads Music Festival Reveals Why They Pulled The Plug Just Days Before It Was Set To Begin

We’re now finding out why the Country Road Music Festival was canceled earlier this week.

Country music fans that had plans to attend the Country Roads Music Festival at The Groves of Michigan Campground were only days away from the three-day-event when the organizers behind it pulled the plug. Country Roads – which was set to include artists like Colt Ford, Restless Road, and Drew Baldridge – was supposed to kick off on Friday, July 18 and run through July 20.

The festival was still being pushed and advertised a mere four days ago, when the social media account for the event stated that Country Roads was “just around the corner.” But plans changed in the past 100 hours, because the most recent post from the festival shared the news that Country Roads would be postponed to 2026.

Here’s the message that was sent out:

“We’ve made the difficult decision to postpone Country Roads Music Festival until 2026. This wasn’t an easy call, but we truly believe it’s the right one. Our goal has always been to create something meaningful for this community, and we want to give it the time and care it deserves.

All tickets will be fully refunded. You don’t need to do a thing, we’ll handle it on our end and make sure that money gets back to you as quickly as possible. We’re so grateful for your support and understanding. This community means the world to us, and we can’t wait to share something really special with you in 2026.”

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Interestingly enough, the Country Roads Music Festival was somewhat of a reimagining of the Faster Horses Festival that also took place in Michigan… and was also canceled. In fact, the location of the Country Roads event was just down the road from Michigan International Speedway, where Faster Horses took place.

When Faster Horses announced it’s cancellation in January of this year, the news of the new Country Roads festival was shared only a few weeks later. And the blueprint for Country Roads was very similar to Faster Horses, with camping, music, a 3K run and a corn hole tournament promised as a part of the proceedings.

The cancelation may come as a surprise to some, as it was certainly a last minute cancelation (there’s no doubt about that). However, one person that was surprised the festival was called off was event organizer herself, Darci Keyes.

She told Fox2 Detroit that the she saw the writing on the wall for the late cancellation far earlier than this week, and that she may have underestimated how much work goes into promoting a festival:

“I don’t think that we ever got to that critical minimum ticket sales level. After we got everything done and got tickets on sale. We probably only had about three-and-a-half months and I think in hindsight – Monday morning quarterbacking – it probably wasn’t sufficient time to be able to promote the festival.”

Despite faltering in the first attempt with the Country Roads music festival, Keyes says that she plans on regrouping and trying again – potentially in 2026. Only time will tell whether the festival is brought back next year or a couple of years down the road, but I’ve got to say… if you’ve been forced to cancel two festivals in a matter of a couple months, it might be worth asking if having one is actually worth it in the first place.The post Organizer Of Canceled Country Roads Music Festival Reveals Why They Pulled The Plug Just Days Before It Was Set To Begin first appeared on Whiskey Riff.