St. Louis Fest Plans Canceled

The city inked a deal last year with ICM that paved the way for a Summer Rocks country music festival similar to Lollapalooza in Chicago over Memorial Day Weekend, plus a Labor Day weekend rock festival. But officials pulled the plug on Summer Rocks in January, leaving many questioning whether the Labor Day event would face the same fate.

In a statement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Nov. 27, Mary Ellen Ponder, chief of staff to Mayor Francis Slay, said ICM and the city had mutually agreed to cancel the deal and ICM paid the city $50,000, per the contract, for failing to produce the shows.

“This ambitious endeavor did not come to fruition despite our best efforts, but the city took in fees that far exceeded the time and effort spent pursuing it,” Ponder said. “We will continue to seek out opportunities that will bring St. Louis the type of world-class music experience that it deserves.”