Never Say Never Festival was an annual multi-genre music festival in

Mission, Texas Mission is a city in Hidalgo County, in the US state of Texas, United States. The population was 85,778 at the 2020 census and an estimated 86,635 in 2022. Mission is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan ...

, United States, which ran from 2009 until 2016."About - Never Say Never Music & Arts Festival",DontGetEmo.com, 2010, webpag
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"Never Say Never Festival - Tuesday Mar 15, 2011",ExploreMcAllen.com, 2011, webpag
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The first Never Say Never festival began on March 18, 2009, with 30 bands on two stages, including

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, NeverShoutNever!,

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and

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. The 2010 and 2011 festivals followed on March 17, 2010 and March 15, 2011.

History

The name "Never Say Never" was chosen by festival organizers Zar Castillo and George Culberson in response to acquaintances who assured them they would never be able to establish a festival of this type in

South Texas South Texas is a geographic and cultural region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of th ...

. The 2010 festival was held on March 17, 2010, featuring 40 bands of different genres on three stages, as well as a vendor village.

2016 controversy and demise

The final Never Say Never Festival took place on March 16, 2016, at Las Palmas Racepark. The festival was marred by technical issues, high-risk investments and low attendance, which resulted in many of the artists having their sets cut short and not being paid in full for their performances. In response to the controversy that followed, Matt Carter of Emery hosted an episode of his podcast "Break It Down with Matt Carter" with his bandmates discussing the issue. In a follow-up episode, Carter interviewed promoter Zar Castillo to give Castillo a chance to tell his side of the story and explain what reparations were being made to pay the bands who performed.

References

{{Coord, 26.3001, -98.2625, display=title Tourist attractions in Hidalgo County, Texas Music festivals in Texas Recurring events disestablished in 2009 2009 establishments in Texas