It’s been a rough year for country music festivals. In July 2025, organizers canceled the Country Roads Music Festival in Brooklyn, Michigan—a spinoff of the already-canceled Faster Horses Festival. Now, low ticket sales coupled with rising production costs have forced organizers of the Iron Hills Music Festival to cancel the inaugural Alabama event just weeks before its debut.
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Iron Hills Music Festival Ticketholders Will Receive Refunds
Set for Oct. 11-12, fans expected to enjoy acts like the Turnpike Troubadours, Jo Dee Messina, and Chase Rice at the first-ever Iron Hills Music Festival. Unfortunately, a social media post announced Thursday (Sept. 18) that the event would not happen after all.
“With a heavy heart,” organizers revealed that “rising economic and logistical challenges” were the culprit behind the festival’s cancellation.
“This difficult decision comes after it became clear that we would be unable to deliver the quality experience our fans deserve,” the post read. “Increased production costs combined with softer-than-expected demand made moving forward financially and operationally impossible this year.”
Ticketholders will receive refunds within 30 days. However, that seemed little consolation to many country music fans planning to make the trek to the Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark in downtown Birmingham.
“This is the worst day ever,” declared one Instagram user.
Another placed the blame with the festival’s location. “It’s a shame, but [Birmingham] doesn’t have a big red dirt country fanbase. This festival would thrive in OK or TX,” they wrote. “Or it would do better in [Birmingham] if it was smaller, considering Sloss has a proven history of difficulty as a festival venue.”
Furnace Fest Still On
The Iron Hills Music Festival was the brainchild of the same trio responsible for Furnace Fest 2025. Showcasing heavy rock, thrash, punk and metal bands, Furnace Fest is still set for Oct. 3-5 at the same Birmingham venue. Scheduled performers include Jimmy Eat World, Dropkick Murphys, and Less Than Jake.
“Faced with the challenge of sustaining two festivals during such uncertain economic conditions, we had to make the hard choice to step back from Iron Hills in order to save and strengthen Furnace Fest,” organizers said in a release. “This ensures that Furnace Fest can come back for years to come, continuing the legacy and community it has fostered in Birmingham.”
Featured image by Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images
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