Day for Night, the art and music festival that drew 20,000 fans to the heart of Houston each of the past three Decembers, will not take place this year. And, possibly, never again.

Creditors who had a stake in the event will sell the Day for Night branding and intellectual property Monday, along with other “assets and financial interests” of festival founder and Free Press Houston editor and publisher Omar Afra. Those other properties include the Our/Houston Vodka brand.

Randall Jamail, founder of Houston’s Justice Record label, had been a financial backer of Day for Night since the beginning of the buzzworthy festival. Jamail said he is still proud of the festival that showcased the likes of hip-hop superstar Kendrick Lamar, alt-rock icon St. Vincent and the multimedia work of Bjork.

He doesn’t expect to get any of his investment back from the sale, he said, adding that the liquidation of assets almost certainly won’t recoup enough money for every investor to be repaid. Jamail wouldn’t release the amount of the debt, and Steve Harter, the principal investor, did not return phone calls Friday.

“Is it a bunch of money? Yeah, it’s way more than I have,” Afra said of the debt. “It’s also par for the course for building and launching something of this scope.”

Afra, who started Free Press Houston in 2003 as an alternative news source and later swerved into concert promotion, said young festivals like Day for Night aren’t profitable in their early years. “Typically, your hope is to launch a great festival and hope it becomes profitable in three to five years,” he said. The fact that Day For Night wasn’t making money yet was “the typical trajectory for a one- to four-year-old festival.”

In late 2017, Afra told the Houston Chronicle he expected that year’s Day for Night festival to cost $6 million to produce.

The sale comes after allegations from two women who said they were sexually assaulted by Afra. He was promptly removed from the festival by a group of creditors. No criminal charges were filed, but social media was buzzing about the rumors this fall.

“Let’s get real here. If I was a barista, it wouldn’t be news that I tried to kiss a girl,” Afra said Friday. “For this one fleeting moment, we were the best thing in the world, and it was great. But I think that the very fact that it grew so quickly and it became such a phenomenon is what put a target on it — and me.”

Though Day for Night didn’t have the name recognition of Coachella, or even Afra’s other concert creation, Free Press Summer Fest, it was considered a model of artistic adventure in concert industry that tends to repeat the same predictable formats.

From its inception in December 2015, Day for Night sought to offer an immersive visual experience to accompany a well-curated progressive music program. In a short span, it received widespread national and international attention as a model for future music and art festivals.

A Wall Street Journal headline hailed “a festival’s new approach” in 2016, with music critic Jim Fusilli writing, “By placing at the forefront innovative electronic music, as opposed to banal pop EDM, Day for Night took a different approach to presenting contemporary music.”

That same year, the Observer called Day for Night “the future of music festivals.”

Deborah McNulty, director of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, was among those disappointed by the festival’s demise. “The audience looked different than I see at a lot of art events,” she said. “It captured a new audience and engaged them in the arts. It was adding a great brand to our city, and the quality and range of what they presented was great — a magical formula that was not replicated from other cities.”

Jamail agreed. “So many of the festivalgoers for Day for Night came from out of state and out of the country,” he said. “It was a unique opportunity for the city to showcase itself as a leader and an innovator in the arts. So, of course, I’m saddened by that.”

Day for Night debuted with rapper Kendrick Lamar and ’80s rock band New Order headlining. The 2015 event was held in the Washington Avenue Arts District adjacent to Silver Street Studios just northwest of downtown.

The next year Day for Night relocated to the 16-acre grounds of downtown’s former Barbara Jordan Post Office, with music and art inside the old building and music on multiple stages outside, too. The festival made good use of the space, with art installations that drew people from one stage and the next, weaving them through the building’s multiple floors of art installations.

The future of Day for Night is uncertain. Potential investors will have to determine how much value the brand possesses.

The loss leaves a noticeable hole in a city that was once flush with festivals; the annual slate included Free Press Summer Fest, Something Wicked and Middlelands. Now each of those is gone. Freaky Deaky festival and In Bloom have tried to replace them, but without the success or name recognition.

Mark Austin, who manages and books multiple bands around Houston, thinks the city needs signature festivals.

“Houston deserves to host nationally recognized music events,” Austin said. “As someone who has attended countless festivals for the last 15 years, it was always exciting to have one in my own backyard.

“I think fondly of my experiences at the Westheimer Block Party, Untapped, FPSF, Day For Night and others. It’s always a huge bummer when they go away for whatever reasons. … I loved when friends traveled to Houston to attend FPSF and DFN. And even more when national and international media left jaw-dropped at what they experienced.”

Afra said he hopes the festival and Free Press can go on without him —“despite everything that happened.”

“They’ve served a good purpose here in the city,” he said. “I feel like we helped be part of a transformation of art and music culture in this city.”

Joey Guerra and Molly Glentzer contributed to this report.