MEGAN COURTNEY | Culture Editor

LouFest, the annual St. Louis music festival that was set to take place in Forest Park Sept. 8-9, has been canceled.

The news came overnight on the LouFest official Twitter page, where officials cited “financial hurdles” as the biggest reason for the cancellation. 

This announcement came just days after Logic Systems, the company hired to produce sound for LouFest, backed out.

According to a press release on loufest.com, the loss of two major sponsors, scheduling issues and “existing debt from previous events” is what caused organizers to pull the plug. 

Because of what organizers described as “unfortunately timed media coverage,” the artists and vendors scheduled to be at the event demanded up-front payment, and the festival organizers could not make that happen.

In addition to money problems, LouFest said the “fickle St. Louis weather” was another factor that came into play. Saturday’s forecast calls for a 50 percent chance of rain.

LouFest organizers said in the press release that a rain-soaked weekend like the event experienced in 2016 would not only harm LouFest attendance but also do “physical harm” to Forest Park, and they felt it was irresponsible to invest in the event.

Artists T-Pain, Kacey Musgraves and MisterWives were among those lined up for LouFest.

While organizers stated they don’t have the money to issue refunds, Front Gate Tickets, a company owned by Live Nation and Ticketmaster, is refunding all ticket purchasers in full while LouFest organizers said they will “work to repay our debts.”