Anger, disappointment after Vaughan Caribbean concert abruptly cancelled

Citynews.ca
August 7, 2018

Anger and disappointment after one of the biggest concerts of the Caribbean Carnival weekend was abruptly cancelled on Saturday night.

Organizers of the Carnival Kingdom pulled the plug on the event just two hours before it was supposed to begin in Vaughan.

A notice posted on the City of Vaughan’s Facebook page said event organizers had not complied with the terms of its permit. It also indicated that city staff had received “a number of public complaints about the event.”

When asked by CityNews what exactly organizers failed to comply with, a staff member said there would be “no further comment at this time.”

In a separate Facebook post, Carnival Kingdom said it had all of its permits in place and that they were still not sure why the permits were pulled at the last minute.

“The permits were pulled by the city just 2 hours before doors opening. For reasons we don’t know at this time fully,” SOS Fest said. “We ask all to be patient and trust in our integrity and history.”

The event was being held at an outdoor entertainment complex on Keele Street near Highway 407. In previous years, the concert had been staged at Woodbine Fantasy Fair Parking Lot and Wild Water Kingdom.

Soca star Machel Montano was scheduled to headline an all-star lineup that included Bunji Garlin, Fay Ann Lyons, Destra, Shal Marshall and Patrice Roberts.

Organizers have promised to issue refunds within 72 hours but the cancellation left many to express their anger and disappointment at organizers on social media.

“I drove all the way from Philadelphia Pennsylvania for this show,” wrote Jackie Codrington Stehman on Facebook. “I’m highly disappointed about the way this was handled ,and the only way to fix this is to expeditiously refund folks their money.”

“A by law permit being pulled 2 hours before an event? A full 12-18 hours after an event had previously gone off smoothly with no issues or by law officers?” wrote Jay R on Facebook. “Then police come to enforce by law? To the tune of 100+ cars? We’re worried about $50 refunds when there’s a huge an obvious issue much larger than most of us are thinking? Loosing a permit has a process, seeing as everyone was so surprised I question if this process was followed.”

To view video accompanying article, see here: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2018/08/05/anger-disappointment-vaughan-caribbean-concert-abruptly-cancelled/