KahBang, a music and arts festival held annually in Bangor, is moving to Portland. It’s bringing some big names, including St. Vincent and rapper DMX.

The festival will be Aug. 7-10 at State Theatre, Port City Music Hall, and the Big Easy, organizers said. The festival will feature all of the same acts listed on its website.

The festival’s music headliners, St. Vincent and DMX, will play Portland’s State Theatre on Aug. 8. The dozen or so other music acts scheduled for KahBang will also play in Portland, organizers said.

The six-year-old festival moved so abruptly because organizers were unable to lease or rent a Bangor area camp site, said Joshua Gass, the festival director. KahBang usually arranges a camping area for people from out of state who need affordable lodging, Gass said. Without camping, organizers did not think they could attract enough people to make the festival financially viable.

“We tried to work out (the camping issue) but it just didn’t come together,” Gass said.

The Portland version of KahBang will not feature camping, but camping is not an issue in Portland because it has more potential customers nearby and is closer to population centers. Word of the move leaked out Thursday, catching KahBang organizers by surprise, so the festival’s website as of midday Thursday did not list Portland locations. The website should be updated in a day or so, Gass said.

Some performers were caught by surprise too, including Maine rapper Spose, whose real name is Ryan Peters. Peters said he had not been told of the move, but he’s glad it’s happening. Peters said he’s played the festival every year, and says it has always been “poorly attended.” Organizers said they get an average of 3,000 people a day during KahBang and maybe 7,000 people for the biggest concerts, which were held outdoors on the Bangor waterfront. By comparison, a day-long music festival on Portland’s Eastern Promenade in 2012 featuring Mumford & Sons and St. Vincent drew about 15,000 people.

“I’ve always thought it would make sense to move it out of Bangor,” Peters said. “The people who book KahBang are forward-thinking and they bring in the kind of indie acts that don’t do that well in Bangor.”

The Portland venues for the festival will include the State Theatre, Port City Music Hall and the Big Easy, organizers said. Films will be screened at One Longfellow Square.

Gass said that Lauren Wayne, manager of the State Theatre and Port City Music Hall, has helped KahBang book acts over the years. He called Wayne “a mentor.” Gass said organizers aren’t sure yet if the move to Portland will be permanent. Most of the organizers are from the Bangor area.

“It’s bittersweet for us,” said Gass, 34, who works in marketing and social media. “My job is to put the best event on we can and get the as many people to it as we can.”

So far the music schedule (which is still under construction), looks like this:

Friday, Aug. 8

The State Theatre

St. Vincent

DMX

Dizzy Wright

Nice Places

Roz Raskin

JawKo

Stargroves

Saturday, Aug. 9

Port City Music Hall

Wick-it The Instigator

Wheatus

Late Cambrian

Brave Baby

Brite Lite Brite

Wild Ones

The Box Tiger

Seven Story Fall

For more information, go to KahBang.com.