After more than 30 years of closing out the summer with blues and roots music in Victoria’s Inner Harbour, we at the Victoria Jazz Society want to let you know we are making the difficult decision to put the Harbour Blues ‘n Roots Festival, formerly Vancouver Island Blues Bash, on hiatus in 2026. The loss of vital corporate sponsorships and increasing logistics, supplier and labour costs since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have created a concerning financial situation for many BC festivals, and sadly, the Harbour Blues ‘n Roots Festival is among them. We will take this hiatus year to reassess the Harbour Blues ‘n Roots Festival, seek new sponsors and other sources of funding, and plan to bring the festival back better than ever next year.

We thank the artists, audiences, sponsors, community partners, volunteers, and the City of Victoria who have helped make Harbour Blues ‘n Roots a success over the past thirty years and hope you will join us in enjoying every shade of the blues again at the festival in 2027.

Sincerly,
The Victoria Jazz Society