SHINER, TX (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — A long-running Texas music festival has been canceled by its sponsors who cited location problems and poor financial results in the previous few years.
Bocktoberfest had become something of a tradition in Shiner Texas. Starting in 1994 as "Thanks a million," organized by the Shiner Brewery to mark the occasion of their first year of selling more than 1 million cases of beer, the event was successful enough that it was held annually thereafter.
Originally held on the brewery grounds, the event featured diverse musical fare: Country, Modern and Alternative Rock with Blues, Pop and Americana and had been attracting upwards of 20,000 fans at its height. In recent years however, the festival was forced to be relocated to a new home, Green-Dickson Park, a festival area co-developed by the brewery and the town of Shiner.
The end came in the form of a letter to the Shiner Chamber of Commerce from Carlos Alvarez, president of Gambrinus, the firm which owns the brewery. According to the Victoria Advocate, the letter explained the firm's need to focus on the brewery, noting that the increasing complexity and costs involved in the production proved to make it prohibitive.
"Since a few years back when circumstances out of our control forced us to leave the brewery grounds, the costs and complexities of the event have grown to enormous proportions," Alvarez wrote. "On the financial side, the losses are large, and they have occurred every single year. On the administrative side, the logistics of every concert have required the focused energy, time and attention of a large group of our employees for extended periods every year." – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers