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Festival In Thornton Canceled Due To Heavy Rain

THORNTON, Colo. (CBS4) - Officials in Thornton on Thursday announced that they are canceling their annual Thorntonfest festival due to a flooded field.

"Recent spring rains saturated the Multipurpose Field at 108th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard, making it impossible to ready the area for the thousands of people who attend," officials wrote in a news release.

Mike Soderberg, the executive director of the city's Community Services department, said that despite the forecast for sunny weather in the Denver area on Saturday when the event had been scheduled to take place, the wet field could be heavily damaged if the festival were to happen there.

Soderberg also said they can't move the festival to another spot because other fields in the city are reserved for sporting events.

About 45,000 attended Thorntonfest last year.

"No one is more disappointed than our staff," says Soderberg. "They work for hours preparing for these events and watched Wednesday as all of that work flowed down Grange Hall Creek." The City of Thornton will refund most of the vendor fees collected from those who paid for booth space.

The Cottonwood Classic in the city will still take place as scheduled on Saturday morning.

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