OCEAN CITY, Md. -- The inaugural Oceans Calling Festival has been canceled thanks to Mother Nature. Organizers said due to inclement weather from the remnants of Hurricane Ian, they had to make the difficult decision to cancel the three day event.
Around 1:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, crews began breaking down what they were setting up just a day ago. By 6:00 p.m., most of the gates and tents were gone, and the main stage was in the process of being taken down.
Many in Ocean City were looking forward to the festival, so they're pretty bummed out it's not happening. Between businesses on the boardwalk, festival vendors, and what would have been festival goers, there was a lot of disappointment to go around.
Erin Soriano, a manager at Fisher's Popcorn, said they're pretty upset about the cancellation.
"I mean obviously we're bummed out, it would be interesting to see how this goes off, you know being the inaugural year," said Soriano. "I understand the concern, and safety first obviously for anybody coming down, so it’s a bummer but hopefully they’ll reschedule next year."
Jerry Simons, owner of Hero Burgers and More, was excited to be a vendor at the first ever Oceans Calling.
"Very disappointed, you know we was looking forward to it," said Simons.
Simons said he felt like the festivals organizers wanted to make the festival happen, and understands their decision to make peoples safety their number one priority.
"They were watching the National Weather Service and they was concerned about everybody’s safety first," said Simons. "Of course they wanted the festival to go on, but they had us hold off from setting up and then they finally sent word they were canceled."
Michelle Montgomery and her friends were planning on going to the festival.
"We're absolutely disappointed, we've been planning this trip for months," said Montgomery.
They were looking forward to seeing Dave Matthews and what they called a magical lineup of artists.
"Him with everybody else was just a magical combination of people and close to where we're at so this really, really is awful that it's getting canceled."
Most of the people we spoke with are hoping the festival gets rescheduled.
"I'm hoping they give us a date, maybe if they redo the festival, and I'm hoping they allow me to be here," said Simons.
Oceans Callings first year, scrapped before the first note is ever played.