Mountain Oasis Festival Announces Indefinite Hiatus

After four years, AC Entertainment is pulling the plug on Asheville’s Mountain Oasis Festival. The production company announced the big news in an open letter to fans on Monday.

Without going into great detail about the specifics, the open letter on the Mountain Oasis website cites the challenges involved in creating and maintaining the festival as the reason the company decided to call it quits. “Unfortunately the success necessary to sustain the venture has eluded us. And many of the challenges we have faced in producing the festival have increased. It feels more and more like we’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole,” the letter says. AC Entertainment goes on to say that it won’t end its role as the main concert producer in Asheville and will keep booking shows at the Orange Peel and the U.S. Cellular Center, two of the North Carolina city’s major venues. The letter thanks fans and patrons and doesn’t rule out the possibility of an encore, saying that in the future, the company might find another way to highlight the region.

Mountain Oasis got its start as Moogfest from 2010-2012, and organizers shifted to the catchier name Mountain Oasis in 2013. Set in the downtown area of scenic and artsy Asheville, the indoor festival took place in a variety of venues, all within walking distance of one another. Focusing on the creative use of up-and-coming technology, the Mountain Oasis Festival boasted interactive experiences and art exhibitions that were also open to audiences. In many ways, the event was more than just a music festival; it was also a hub for lectures and panel discussions headed up by some of the biggest names in modern electronica. As one of the newer festival additions to the company that also heads up Bonnaroo, Knoxville’s Big Ears and Louisville’s Forecastle Festival, the 2013 Mountain Oasis Festival lineup included Nine Inch Nails, Bassnectar, Pretty Lights and Neutral Milk Hotel.

In the meantime, you can still catch Moogfest in Asheville April 23-27. Moogfest is under new management and has completely separated from AC Productions. The 2014 Moogfest lineup includes Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys, M.I.A., YACHT and Dan Deacon.