La Onda Festival organizers remain silent on cancellation, leaving fans ‘devastated’
Read the article in Spanish here.
Latino music powerhouse Festival La Onda has abruptly canceled its third edition, organizers announced on Monday, February 23.
“Unfortunately, the 2026 Festival La Onda will not take place,” read part of the social media post. “All ticket buyers who purchased Front Gate tickets will receive a full refund within 30 days.”
Organizers did not give a reason for the cancellation when asked on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have more (information),” said Tom Fuller, a spokesman for La Onda.
The all-Spanish music festival was launched in the summer of 2024 as the BottleRock series, the largest music festival in the region. La Onda aims to serve Northern California’s Latino audience by pairing world-class production with a variety of genres and has attracted fans from across the country.
According to organizers, the first La Onda festival drew 65,000 to 70,000 fans to the Napa Valley Expo during its two-day run on June 1-2, 2024 with headliners like Mexican band Maná and ranchero singer Alejandro Fernández.
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Abraham Fuentes/The Democratic Press
Alejandro Fernandez performs on the Verizon stage during the La Onda Festival in Napa on June 1, 2024. (Abraham Fuentes/For The Press Democrat)
Abraham Fuentes/The Democratic Press
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Alejandro Fernandez performs on the Verizon stage during the La Onda Festival in Napa on June 1, 2024. (Abraham Fuentes/For The Press Democrat)
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This year’s set list also includes big names such as J Balvin, who is making an album with Bad Bunny in 2019, Christian Nodal, and the return of Maná.
Rosy Sánchez, the creator of TikTok that hosts concerts for the Latino community, said she was devastated after posting about the festival’s cancellation. Sánchez, who is based in Chicago, planned to buy her tickets this week and fly to the event in May.
“The list sounded amazing,” he said on Tuesday, Feb 24. “I was looking forward to going to the event for the first time.”
While her followers expressed their frustration on her post, all comments on La Onda’s Instagram and TikTok account were disabled when checked at noon on Tuesday. Sánchez said editors should enable re-commenting because “people want to be heard.”
Monday’s announcement did not guarantee an immediate return: “We remain hopeful that Festival La Onda can return in the future.”
According to La Onda’s website, no action is required for customers to get a ticket refund. Customers will receive email confirmations once their returns have been processed, organizers said.
To learn more about the refund process, see laondafest.com/info.
