A POPULAR festival has had to shelve plans for this year and announced its cancellation for 2022.

The Kelvedon Community Festival, or K-Fest, was hoping to return this summer.

Attracting crowds of up to 4,000 people, the festival was first launched in 1999 and has grown ever since.

K-Fest was paused for two years due to Covid, having its last and 20th anniversary event in July 2019.

In a statement on Monday, the K-Fest team announced that this year’s festival has been cancelled due to fundraising trouble.

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A spokesman said: “Like many of you, we were very much hoping to see a return of the festival this summer and the committee has been working hard behind the scenes to try to make this happen.

“But what many people don’t know is that it costs many thousands of pounds to bring you the festival every year.

“Due to all things Covid over the last couple of years we have been unable to fundraise, and therefore we don’t have the money needed to bring you the festival we all wanted this year.

“So, it is regret that we have to announce that K-Fest will not be taking place in 2022.”

However, the team announced plans for fundraising events for the rest of the year, in the hope of bringing bring back K-Fest for 2023.

The spokesman added: “We’re busy putting plans together for a whole year of K-fest related merriment, from live music at venues in Kelvedon through to race nights, pub quizzes and much more.

“There will be something for everyone, of all ages, all year round. All of these will be fundraisers, helping us to raise the money we need to bring K-Fest back, bigger, better, and louder than ever before.”