Unfortunately, this is not unexpected. As our society becomes more politically correct, more green, and above all, more litigious, you will see more and more of these types of events disappearing.
Only the for profit type events will have half a chance to survive, based on all the hoops and preparations volunteers must go through.
The other factor is that the bigger you are, the bigger target you are. That doesn't help when you try to insure an event like this.
One way or another, we all have a small share of the blame in this.