File Photo Fans gather to watch a local band on the “Roots Stage,” the secondary stage at the Blame My Roots Festival, in July 2022.

MORRISTOWN — The final curtain may have fallen on the tradition of an outdoor country music festival in Eastern Ohio each July.

Blame My Roots Festival — the country music event that launched in 2019 to fill the gap left when Jamboree In The Hills was disbanded after 41 years — is being discontinued. The end of the festival was announced via its website and on social media Monday.

“Thank you, country music fans,” the festival posted. “We’ve decided to retire the Blame My Roots Festival after being unable to book a 2024 headliner. The difficulties we’ve experienced since May have shown us there is too much competition with other country music concerts, tours and festivals in our region for us to exist.

“We’re proud that we provided country music fans a fun experience in a familiar place to gather with their family and friends.”

Chris Dutton, co-founder of the event with his sister Nina, confirmed by phone that Blame My Roots is being retired.

He added that he was not ready to say much more about the decision on Monday afternoon, other than acknowledging that organizers were unable to secure a headline act for the show that had been planned for July 2024. He said acts were simply choosing to perform at larger concerts.

The news comes after the 2023 show was “postponed” in September 2022. The festival had its third installment in July 2022 on a family-owned property known as Valley View Campgrounds. The site is located across U.S. 40 from the former JITH venue and had hosted campers attending Jamboree for about three decades.

In 2022, a press release stated the BMR festival had formed a partnership with a Nashville-based booking agency. Still, the lineup for a 2024 show was never announced.

Dutton has said the festival held in 2022 had about 12,000 attendees over the course of the three days. The headliners that year included Dierks Bentley, Ashley McBryde, David Lee Murphy, The Russell Sisters and Stevie Lynn.

The announcement Monday was greeted by a wide variety of responses on social media, ranging from disappointment to well-wishes to the Dutton family.