WHITE SPRINGS, Fla. -- One of the largest and longest running folk festival in the United States will not be held on Memorial Day weekend due to concerns over the massive wildfire burning nearby and poor airquality, the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park announced Friday.

The 55th annual Florida Folk Festival was scheduled for May 25–27.

"Inviting an additional 10,000 people per day into a high-risk area would not only potentially endanger visitors and performers, but put a strain on the community’s emergency response system as well as its natural resources," Florida State Park Director Mike Bullock said. "The Florida Park Service fully intends to hold the event in 2008 and is reviewing the logistics involved in rescheduling the event in 2007."

The leading edge of the fire is less than 15 miles from the park, and with conditions uncertain, officials announced the park will temporarily close, beginning Saturday.

The Florida Folk Festival depends on state, county and local cities and towns assisting in providing public safety resources to manage the crowds.

With current emergency fire conditions, the agencies are actively needed to provide support to firefighting efforts in neighboring Columbia County.

Transportation is also impacted by periodic closing of major roads including I-75 and I-10. These closings and re-routing of traffic stretch the limit of the local roads and the attendance of the festival by more than 20,000 visitors would place an additional burden on the highway system.

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