{"id":1965,"date":"2011-07-21T16:07:05","date_gmt":"2011-07-21T23:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=1965"},"modified":"2011-08-02T16:12:39","modified_gmt":"2011-08-02T23:12:39","slug":"americas-finest-beer-festival-canceled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2011\/07\/21\/americas-finest-beer-festival-canceled\/","title":{"rendered":"America’s Finest Beer Festival CANCELED"},"content":{"rendered":"

Please note: any new updates are at the bottom of this post. Last update Tuesday 080211 @ 4:11PM<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

KNOW SOMETHING WE DON’T? PLEASE CALL THE WC TIP HOTLINE\u00a0(619) 796-5719
\nOR MIKE@WESTCOASTERSD.COM. ANONYMITY GUARANTEED.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

West Coaster <\/em>has just learned (thanks to TapHunter.com<\/a>) that the large scale beer and music event America’s Finest Beer Festival<\/a> that was scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled. \u00a0One of the organizers of this event has agreed to speak with us. More on that soon.<\/p>\n

The Rancho San Diego Jamul Chamber of Commerce is preparing a statement on the\u00a0cancellation. They were involved in the planning of the event (to what extent is unknown to us at this time). (UPDATE: Statement has been issued and is viewable online\u00a0http:\/\/www.afbfest.com\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n

No word yet on any reimbursement ticket holders can expect. (UPDATE: Ticketholders who purchased tickets online via TicketWeb can expect refunds, see our update below for more details.)<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Once we learn more we’ll update this post. Sit tight…<\/p>\n

072111\u00a0<\/strong>Update 4:19PM<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
A view of the practice field at 4:19PM where the festival was scheduled to be held in less than 24 hours. No sign of any beer and music festival-related equipment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

West Coaster<\/em> staffers report that Qualcomm Stadium is a “ghost town.” There is no sign of any festival one day before it is scheduled to begin.<\/p>\n

072111\u00a0<\/strong>Update 4:31PM<\/strong><\/p>\n

West Coaster<\/em> reader Paul Gagnon alerted us that the\u00a0official\u00a0venue website has changed into a plain text letter\u00a0announcing\u00a0the\u00a0cancellation. See the post @ \u00a0http:\/\/www.afbfest.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The letter is authored by Valerie Harrison, CEO of Rancho San Diego Jamul Chamber of Commerce (as is stated in her public LinkedIn.com profile:\u00a0http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pub\/valerie-harrison\/13\/48\/631<\/a>\u00a0). The letter states that financial support for the festival dropped at the last minute, and also stated that ticket holders can expect refunds. <\/strong>Click here<\/a> to read Valerie’s letter.<\/p>\n

A WC<\/em> Reader asked us a valid question that I’d like to address. “What was the involvement of the sponsors, West Coaster, Taphunter, The Reader, 91x, etc?”<\/em><\/p>\n

West Coaster<\/em> engaged in a media trade with AFBF. We supplied advertising placement at discounted rates in exchange for a vendor booth for all three days. Also, we were getting general admission passes for our staff to man the booth, and WC logo placement on literature, websites, and advertisements was also part of the deal. That’s the extent of our involvement. While I cannot speak for my fellow local media, I’m sure similar deals were made.<\/p>\n

As a side note, we did ask “how’s it going?” several times over the past months to our contacts planning the festival. Each time, the response was positive.<\/p>\n

072111 Update 4:56P\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

WC<\/em> Reader Joaquin Q. forwarded us an email from event ticketing service TicketWeb to all who had purchased a ticket through that service.<\/p>\n

From: <info@ticketweb.com<\/a>><\/em>
\nTo:\u00a0<\/em>
\nReceived: 21-Jul-11 4:04:58 PM<\/em><\/p>\n

The following event has been cancelled:<\/em><\/p>\n

America’s Finest Beer Festival: Saturday Pass with Pinback \/ Sunny Rude \/<\/em>
\nShoreline Rootz \/ Psydecar \/ Mississippi Mud Sharks \/ Buck-O-Nine \/ Sprung<\/em>
\nMonkey \/ Christopher Dale \/ Locked Out of Eden<\/em>
\n07\/23\/11 11:00 AM PDT<\/em>
\nQualcomm Stadium Practice Field<\/em><\/p>\n

The tickets you purchased will be automatically refunded to the credit card<\/em>
\nused to make the purchase.<\/em>
\nPlease allow up to five business days for the refund to post to your<\/em>
\naccount.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for choosing TicketWeb.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

072611 248AM<\/strong><\/p>\n

We’re still trying to get in touch with our contact. AFBF was our back cover ad for July, and we frankly need the cash. We’ll update when we know something.<\/p>\n

073111 8PM<\/strong><\/p>\n

A visit to afbfest.com<\/a> now directs to a godaddy.com website – meaning the website has been taken down\/removed. In anticipation of this move, I took the liberty of backing up the letter which is now reproduced at this address<\/a>. \u00a0One of our readers, Glenn, has commented below that he’s interested in a refund. We hear you, man. Tomorrow, I’m going to call up the Rancho SD \/ Jamul Chamber and see what they say.<\/p>\n

080211 412PM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Multiple calls to the Rancho San Diego Jamul Chamber of Commerce have gone unanswered. We’ll drop in and say hello later this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Please note: any new updates are at the bottom of this post. Last update Tuesday 080211 @ 4:11PM KNOW SOMETHING WE DON’T? PLEASE CALL THE WC TIP HOTLINE\u00a0(619) 796-5719 OR MIKE@WESTCOASTERSD.COM. ANONYMITY GUARANTEED.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 West Coaster has just learned (thanks to TapHunter.com) that the large scale beer and music event America’s Finest Beer Festival that was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[444],"class_list":{"0":"post-1965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","7":"tag-americas-finest-beer-festival","8":"entry","9":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-vH","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}