Juicy Fest Tauranga, scheduled to begin later today, has been cancelled due to the weather conditions.

The festival, marketed as 'freshly squeezed hip hop and R&B nostalgia' was set to feature Bow Wow, Xzibit, Chingy, Mya, Lloyd, Twista and more.

"We are heartbroken to announce we have had to make the tough decision this morning to cancel Juicy Fest Tauranga on Friday, January 6, due to increasing safety concerns prompted by potentially dangerous weather conditions," says Juicy Fest promoter Glenn Meikle.

Glenn says with a heavy rain warning and strong winds in place for parts of the Bay of Plenty, including around Tauranga, it would be "irresponsible" of us to allow this event to go ahead.

"Our team has been on site through the night monitoring weather conditions. We have been forced into this decision but we know this is the right thing to do because we are prioritising the safety of our patrons, artists and crew, which is paramount. We are completely gutted but we cannot risk anyone's safety," says Glen.

"Juicy Fest Tauranga was expected to be one of our biggest shows of the Juicy Fest Tour and we were looking forward to hosting all of our artists at home in Tauranga and putting on an amazing show for all of our festival-goers."

"We understand any frustrations and inconvenience caused by this cancellation but we trust you can accept that this call was not made lightly, and only with everyone's safety in mind."

"We will fully refund all tickets purchased, which will be an automatic process that will happen within the next 14 days. If you purchased hardcopy tickets, please contact the salesperson directly.

"For all All pre-paid top-ups, these will also be fully refunded back - please register your account via the online portal: juicyfest-tauranga2023.gettoken.com/."