An electronic music festival pitched as an eventual replacement for Merritt's defunct country event has just two days to come up with $19,000 or it will not be granted permits.

The board of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District will consider at a Thursday board meeting whether to grant a special event licence to the Electric Mountain Music Festival during the Labour Day weekend.

But before it can do so, development services director Andrew Swetlishoff said promoters must come up with $19,000 to cover additional fire and policing costs at the site beside the Coldwater River.

“We're still waiting,” Swetlishoff said of the funds. “We told the promoter we'd take it to the board. If we don't have it (funding) we won't issue the permit.”

The board meets Thursday, meaning a Wednesday deadline for the $19,000.

Reached Monday, Electric music fest promoters Josh Allen and Thomas Taylor said the money is forthcoming and the show will go on.

“They're asking for expenses I wasn't expecting,” Taylor said in a telephone interview from Vancouver. “I didn't have it in the budget.”

Merritt RCMP are asking for $12,000 for extra costs to cover extra policing for the concert and rave event, which runs from 2 p.m. to 7 a.m., Sept. 4-5. The remainder is for fire and rescue services.

“I've got to get $16,000 to them tomorrow,” Taylor said. “I should be able to.”

Thomas said the event is an attempt to emulate success of the Merritt Mountain Music Fest, which lasted for more than a decade until folding after last year. Promoters are working with Mountainfest promoter Claude Lelievre, who owns the site.

The partners eventually plan to stage an electronic festival, rock event and country festival each year at the site. The first step is making the Electric Mountain Music Festival a success. It is slated to feature urban, hip hop and electronica acts on two stages.

The event has been reduced to two days from the original plan for three due to slow ticket sales.

“To break even I need at least 900 (attendees),” Thomas said. “Otherwise I'm having a party for a bunch of friends at my expense.”

Allen said the recent Shambhala event in the Kootenays sparked new ticket sales. But both men expect at least 50 per cent of concert goers to buy tickets at the gate.