Indiependence to leave Mitchelstown site in 2021

Festival revellers rocking the tent as The Coronas play the 2017 Indiependence festival in Mitchelstown. Picture: Dara Munnis

The annual Indiependence music festival is to leave Mitchelstown after 15 years.

Organisers confirmed the festival is "looking to the future, to something new", but that it will not take place in the north Cork town which has been its home for 15 years.

They have also announced that any ticketholders who kept tickets from this year's cancelled event in anticipation of next year's festival will be refunded "in time for Christmas".

This year's event had been called off due to Covid-19, and although plans had been in place to hold a festival at the town next year, those have now been scrapped.

The 2020 edition of the festival had been due to be headlined by The Stereophonics, and the festival has brought the likes of the Manic Street Preachers, Public Enemy, Kodaline, and The Coronas to Mitchelstown over the years.

In a statement, the organisers said: “We are sad to announce that the 15-year relationship between Indiependence and Mitchelstown is at an end.

“This is a situation we hoped would never arise, but we have been left with no other option.”

“We have taken the decision to protect the ticketholder funds and ensure that everyone is refunded in time for Christmas.”

On a statement issued last night, they added: “We have had 14 Indie festivals in Mitchelstown, starting with three in the square way back in 2006.

“We have seen the best of Irish and international talent come to our town over the years; we sang, we danced and, at times, we cried.

This is not a decision made lightly, it is with a heavy heart that we see no other option.

And they say “this is not the end of Indiependence, we are looking to the future, to something new — unfortunately, we cannot do that in Mitchelstown in the foreseeable future.”

They thanked everyone who has helped them over the years, including local businesses, Cork County Council, Mitchelstown Fire Brigade, and Mitchelstown Gardaí.

In July, organiser Shane Dunne was upbeat about the music business and live performances.

He told the Irish Examiner at the time: “It’s hard enough to take it.

“But it is what it is. We’ll just have to suck it up.”

Lewis Capaldi playing Indiependence last year.

Of the restrictions in place then, he added: “It’s a hard one.

“Some people are finding it very hard to take. So it’s a difficult time.”

He said the festival “will come back”.

Indiependence launched in 2006. From then until 2008, when they attracted 10,000 people, it was free and they held it in the town square.

In 2009, it had to, because of its success, move to a greenfield site at nearby Deer Farm, overlooked by the Galtee Mountains.

Only 1,800 turned up due to bad weather that year and the poor ticket sales and the high cost of safety measures saw the organisers take a big hit financially.

Mr Dunne said in his Irish Examiner interview earlier this year that “it was because we were absolute idiots who didn’t know what we were doing”.

But it had grown steadily more popular since then, and last year it saw 15,000 people attend.