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NiFi Fest, expected to hit D-FW in 2016, cancels first attempt in Kentucky

Things looked promising for NiFi Festival, the new three-day music event that was slated to debut at the Kentucky Speedway next month before embarking on a nationwide tour with a stop in D-FW in 2016. But despite big-name headliners like Green Day, Miranda Lambert and Kings of Leon and $15 million in capital, the event has been cancelled, says a note on NiFi's website.

So what does this mean for the D-FW edition? Well, we're not sure yet.

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NiFi is the product of a partnership between entertainment production company Nitro Fidelity and Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns and operates eight racing arenas around the country. The festival was supposed to debut at Texas Motor Speedway last Memorial Day weekend, according Kenton Nelson, the speedway's vice president of events and assistant general manager, but the ducks weren't in a row.

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Mike Zizzo, vice president of media relations at TMS, says there's no word from corporate yet about whether or not the show will go on. (We're waiting to hear back from Nelson as well as NiFi.)

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But considering the ever-increasingly competitive market place, the fate of NiFi Kentucky really isn't all that surprising. Turns out, festivals need more than just a little hype to sell tickets and that can be difficult for a first-timer. Just two weeks ago, organizers pulled the plug on TimeScape, a new festival set to debut in Arlington, due to "unfavorable circumstances," including underwhelming ticket sales. And while new-to-North Texas festival Dallas Music District indeed happened, it was by most accounts a failed effort.

Even the success of the inaugural Suburbia Music Festival in Plano, which drew about 20,000 attendees, wasn't enough to convince Live Nation to throw the event again.

Rest assured there are still plenty of festivals for North Texans -- Oaktopia in Denton, Pegasus Music Festival in Grand Prairie, Summer Cut, Untapped and Texas Heritage Fest in Dallas, take your pick. But that should serve as a warning to event promoters and producers -- there are more than enough places for consumers to spend their dollar, and they'll likely choose some not all.