OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — There won't be a Maha Festival in 2024, organizers announced Thursday, citing increased costs affecting the entertainment and event industries.
In May 2023, the Maha Festival's board of directors voted to move the three-day festival from Stinson Park in Aksarben, to The Riverfront in downtown Omaha. The recent decision to not hold the event in 2024 was a unanimous one.
According to a press release by the organization, that decision came as a result to “rework Maha’s operating model, combined with industry-wide increases in costs for talent, transportation, labor, security and insurance.”
Maha Festival was canceled in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maha draws a crowd of thousands each year and relies on hundreds of volunteers. Local acts and vendors are incorporated into the festival, but the event has boasted big-name headliners in past years including Lizzo, Car Seat Headrest, Matt and Kim, and more.
“We’re so appreciative of the ongoing support of our many volunteers, sponsors, contributors, members, nonprofit partners and community leaders who have powered Maha Festival since its inception,” said TJ Twit, Maha festival board president in a press release. “In honor of them — and in honor of the hundreds of thousands of people who have spent their hard-earned money attending the festival in the past — we’re dedicated to reworking Maha into a sustainable festival experience for the long haul.”
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