2008
City Stages' organizers announced in November 2007 that they hired AC Entertainment, one of the co-producers for the successful Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, to help produce the Birmingham festival and will advise them for the next three years.
The partnership was to help aid the festival of eliminating a debt of $230,000 and to bring bigger acts - many who had forged relationships with Bonnaroo organizers - to the annual event. (Both Bonnaroo and City Stages were held on the same weekend.)
The final City Stages was held on June 13–15, 2009 on Father's Day Weekend. Tickets sales were hampered by inclement weather, the struggling economy, and a poor lineup. Many speculate McMillan purposely put on a sub-par festival that year to declare bankruptcy and seek protection from creditors. After the event, organizers announced that the total debt had surpassed $1 million, and that no further City Stages would be produced.
Read more about this topic: City Stages