After 15 editions over the nearly two decades, Rifflandia Music Festival will cease to operate.

Festival founders Nick Blasko and Casey Austin made the announcement in a letter posted to the Rifflandia website and social media Wednesday.

“Up until a few weeks ago it looked like we might have been able to bring Victoria one last Rifflandia in 2026. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be and our family, and our company, have come to the very difficult decision that, after 18 years, Rifflandia Festival will cease to operate,” said Blasko and Austin in the opening paragraph of the letter.

In a news release, festival organizers cited rising production costs, shifting consumer behaviour and operating in a smaller market as factors in making it difficult to sustain the festival.

“Ticket sales do not support the level of investment and growing financial risks required to produce the event without making significant compromises to the customer experience, artist programming, and production standards that have defined them,” organizers said in the news release. “Rather than compromise the qualities that made Rifflandia Festival unique, the organization has chosen to bring this chapter to a close while creating space for future opportunities.”

In recent months, Rifflandia’s website and social media pivoted to promoting the brand as an events company promoting international events they organize including a graffiti/street-art exhibition in Paris, France. The Rifflandia team also organized The Village Block Party in Victoria’s Cook Street Village.

Rifflandia began in 2008 as a showcase style multi-venue festival with an attendance of 1,500 people. In 2010 the festival expanded to Victoria’s Market Square where Gord Downie, K’naan and Melissa Auf Der Maur were marquee performers.

2011 saw the addition of what would be their flagship venue for ten years, Royal Athletic Park. In those years, the park hosted major headliners including Courtney Love, The Flaming Lips, Moby Lorde, Charlie XCX, and Iggy Pop. The 2013 edition of the festival gained worldwide media attention when Death Cab For Cutie performed their final concert with guitarist/songwriter Chris Walla.

Post Malone and Macklemore performed side stages before they broke out as stars.

The festival paused operations after the 2018 and returned in 2022. In 2024, Rifflandia signed a multi-year deal to move the entire festival to the Mattulia Lands at Rock Bay.

In a Times Colonist article, Blasko revealed that they attempted to organize one last festival in 2026, but the space at the Mattulia Lands would have been smaller, the City of Victoria didn’t green light a move back to Royal Athletic Park, and a possible move to Saanich also did not work out.

Read the full goodbye letter below.