There will be no Choochokam Music & Arts Festival this year, organizers announced publicly today.

Confirming widespread rumors that the 2016 event had been cancelled or simply wouldn’t be able to unfold as planned, Choochokam Foundation board President Celia Black said the decision was made late last week to scrub this year’s festival and pick up it up again in 2017. She said “logistical” problems hampered planning efforts, and that by the time they were hammered out it was too late to move forward “responsibly.”

“So, we made the decision on Friday to go dark this year,” said Black, in an interview with The Record Thursday.

The decision wasn’t announced publicly until today because musicians, vendors and other partners needed to be notified first, Black said. Also, Black was out of town on business in Los Angeles until Wednesday evening.

Black and Entertainment Director Gwen Jones declined to say how many bands and vendors had signed up, but said the process to notify them began on Friday and stretched into Saturday.

“It was quite a few booths,” Jones said.

“All of them were positive, and we’re ready to come back next year,” she added.

A “concert in the park” is planned for August as a sneak peak of the 2017 event at its new location in Community Park; both Jones and Black said they were very excited about the new venue.

Additional details on the cancellation will be reported as they become available.