Payne County Sheriff's Office investigating if Redbud Balloon Festival was planned legitimately
YALE, Okla. (KFOR) – The Payne County Sheriff's Office says they're investigating parts of the Redbud Balloon Festival.
Many attendees have told KFOR they were upset after buying tickets to the event and finding a mostly empty field instead. The event was set for April 9-11 in Yale.
"We got in and there was just nothing there. We mainly wanted to go for the piñata; I mean there was nothing," attendee Marshall Todd said.
The Payne County Sheriff's Office says they're looking into if the event was planned or advertised legitimately. As for people being upset with the event, that would still be a civil matter.
One person who bought tickets called the Sheriff's Office.
"I told them I had paid for an event, but that didn’t happen and that I wanted them to look into it, because I think it was a bigger problem than just this one weekend that didn’t happen," Evan Rhodd said.
The Sheriff's Office isn't saying more than that they're investigating. When we first brought you this story, the Undersheriff said a deputy did go to the event.
"A deputy did go out to investigate this, and from the information that he received, that there was indeed a balloon fest activity," Undersheriff Marvin Noyes said. "The question is whether all the activities that was put out there was actually held or not."
KFOR tried reaching the organizer, Kevin Anderson, in multiple ways, including phone, text, email and going to his place of business.
Anderson sent a memo that can be found here. He said weather affected the events and referred attendees to the refund policy.
Some people say they've gotten refunds through the site Ticket Leap.
Others who paid in other ways have still not heard anything.
"We don’t know how to go about, how to get any help with this," Todd said. "I just hope the sheriff’s [office] look out for us and help us with this."
Many are glad authorities are taking action.
"I think that’s a great thing. I’m very happy they’re going to go through with something and move forward with the investigation," Rhodd said.
The Attorney General's office says they have not received any official complaints about the festival.