VIDALIA, La. – With Hurricane Rita honing in on the gulf coast, the Bowie Festival, scheduled for the Vidalia Riverfront today and Saturday, has been cancelled.

“Unfortunately, we have to cancel, but I think it’s the best thing for us to do,” Jan Simpson said.

The potential for dangerous weather and difficulties in travelling due to the large number of people evacuating the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts forced organizers to make the decision, Simpson said.

“We just don’t know what the hurricane will do here,” Simpson said. “We could have gone on and put it in indoors, but not knowing, it was something we didn’t want to chance.”

The looming hurricane has affected travel plans for many of the musical artists, vendors and sound equipment people who were scheduled to come, Vidalia Chamber of Commerce President Sheri Rabb said.

“We hope everybody battens down the hatches and gets ready to welcome the people we’ll probably have coming in soon,” Rabb said.

Country artist Ty Herndon, who was scheduled to be the headliner for Saturday’s festivities, will play a concert at the Riverfront Ampitheater Oct. 8 instead, Simpson said.

The rest of the festivities have been cancelled for this year and will not be rescheduled, Rabb said.