Organizers cancel North Loop festival days before event

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A North Loop festival set for this weekend in Minneapolis was suddenly canceled on Wednesday, days before bands were set to take the stage.

What happened?

On Wednesday, one of the bands scheduled to perform at the festival on Sunday appeared on FOX 9, promoting the festival, which was now going under a new name.

After debuting last year, the event formerly known as the "North by North Loop" festival was slated to return as the "NBNL Festival" this weekend. According to organizers, the festival has changed its name after receiving a cease and desist letter from the South by Southwest festival, based in Austin, Texas.

Then what?

But, just hours after the performance, organizers announced the festival had been canceled.

In a statement to FOX 9, an organizer wrote Wednesday evening: "The NBNL Festival regrets to Inform everyone that our musical event for September 8th has been canceled.  We will be refunding the full ticket purchase within the week.  All of the musicians and our staff are sad that we won’t be celebrating the start of fall with you and wish you all the best in September.  Hope to see you in 2025."

The exact reason for the cancelation remains unclear.

Full disclosure

This story has been altered to reflect the cancelation. This story was originally posted Wednesday night, promoting the festival, before FOX 9's newsroom learned it had been canceled.