A festival which was due to take place in Norwich this autumn has been cancelled because of coronavirus.

Norwich Evening News: Wild Paths Festival 2020 has been cancelled. Picture: Wild Paths FestivalWild Paths Festival 2020 has been cancelled. Picture: Wild Paths Festival (Image: Archant)

The city-wide Wild Paths Festival would have taken place between October 15-18.

Organisers have cited the loss of one of the festival’s main venues, Open, which went into liquidation last month and three main partners and funding sources as contributing factors to the decision, as well as anticipating that large gatherings will still be banned come October.

The organisers said it was with “a heavy heart and sigh of reluctant submission” that they had come to accept that going ahead with Wild Paths Festival 2020 would be an “unrealistic and irresponsible endeavour”.

They said: “Believe us when we say this decision was not taken lightly, but amidst a flurry of media releases highlighting the careful exit measures that will need to be implemented and citing the likely resurgence of the pandemic if large scale gatherings are to take place in 2020, we feel it is the only responsible course of action available to us.

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“Wild Paths prides itself on collaborating with the local community and providing a platform for creatives of all kinds, but pushing forward with this year’s festival would mean risking the safety of the team, the artists and all of you beautiful festival attendees.

“However, every cloud has a silver lining and with all this extra time for planning and organising we’ll be able to prepare an even more extravagant Wild Paths Festival 2021.”

The organisers added that anyone who had already purchased a ticket for Wild Paths 2020 would be entitled to claim a refund.

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They said they would now concentrate efforts on the 2021 festival which, where possible, will incorporate a number of 2020 acts.

The inaugural Wild Paths Festival took place in Norwich in October 2019.

The four-day event saw more than 200 acts perform across 20 venues in the city. As well as live music there were also talks, panel discussions and art displays.

The event was created by Ben Street, from Norwich, whose aim was to combine international and national acts with top talent from across East Anglia.