Middlelands will not return to Texas Renaissance Festival grounds in 2018

by: Ryan Castillo May 19, 2017

As rumors began circulating among the so-called “Middlelands Clan” across the Internet today, May 19, the inaugural group of festival attendees had their worst fears confirmed. According to a local news outlet, KHOU, Middlelands will not be returning to the Texas Renaissance Festival (TRF) grounds in 2018 amid noise complaints from local residents after this year’s (albeit magical) gathering. The venue issued the following statement earlier today:

“TRF is always looking for new ways to bring fun and magic to the Houston area, which is why we partnered with Insomniac, C3 Events and Live Nation, to create the Middlelands music festival on our grounds. Middlelands was a great success and brought over 60,000 people to the area from all over the country and the world. However, after a meeting with executive leadership and based on Texas Renaissance Festival’s overall mission, we’ve have made the decision to not move forward in hosting the event again.”

However, this isn’t the end of Middlelands if Pasquale has any say in the matter. The Insomniac founder took to his personal social media channels to tell another side of the story:

IMPORTANT @MiddlelandsFest UPDATE: Happy to say we received an incredible amount of positive feedback and support from attendees and many local businesses. Thanks and love to all of you! We did experience some issues with sound complaints in the community, but these are not problems that are isolated to our shows. These are normal growing pains for any first-time festival… and there are always solutions. I flew to Houston with the intention of speaking to the community face to face in a Town Hall meeting. To spend three hours on a plane only to be told on arrival by a TRF official that they were cancelling the meeting is disappointing to say the least. Despite what the media is saying, I showed up, as I always do. I will always fight to the end for our culture. This is not the end of Middlelands. We will be back! Here’s a pic of me and #RainbowAuroraRotella rocking out on the Bassrush stage!! #footloose

A post shared by Pasquale Rotella (@pasqualerotella) on May 19, 2017 at 3:12pm PDT