Bluedot will NOT take place in 2024 after extreme weather halted this year’s festival

Bluedot, one of the North’s best-loved festivals, will not be taking place in 2024, it has been announced.

The family-friendly festival in Cheshire takes place every summer in the staggering setting of Jodrell Bank, with the Lovell Telescope providing a backdrop to the main stage.

Bluedot had to partially cancel its 2023 festival and turn away day guests on its final day, after heavy rain left areas of the festival site ‘unpassable’.

Unprecedented rainfall in July turned Jodrell Bank into a muddy swamp that made it unsafe for day ticket holders to attend, despite the team on site laying more than 1.5km of additional track mat and track way, 130 tonnes of sustainably sourced wood chip, and bringing multiple trucks on site to pump out standing water.

Sadly, the damage done by this summer’s miserable weather is lasting.

Bluedot has now confirmed that its 2024 instalment will not be taking place, with the ground needing a fallow year to recover from the extreme weather.

The award-winning festival said that the record-breaking rain before and during the festival has had a severe impact on the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Organisers said: “When we set out on the journey that is bluedot, our mission was to create a unique experience – a combination of discovery, exploration and grand cosmic ideas, soundtracked by the finest musicians from across the planet.

“An opportunity once a year to explore new and unique collaborations between science, music and the arts, to be amongst like-minded adventurers, and to rediscover and celebrate our shared humanity.

“Underpinning bluedot’s mission is a sincere love and respect for the earth and environment we are lucky to be part of. However, the earth beneath bluedot took a lot of strain.

“Experiencing the highest level of rainfall on the festival weekend since records began (records courtesy of Jodrell Bank’s own weather station!) we have patiently waited to see what the effects of this have been on the land itself. We have now sadly reached the conclusion that the ground on which the bluedot universe is built desperately needs some time to recover; a period of rest during which the soil will recover and regenerate.”

Bluedot has shared a full statement on its website.

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Featured image: The Manc Group