Portland Bridal Show canceled, vendors want refunds
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- It's no secret weddings are a big business and summer is the busiest time for couples to get married. But vendors who paid to be part of the Portland Bridal Show are now demanding their money back when the organizer moved the event and then canceled it altogether.
Originally, organizer Karin Webster scheduled the Portland Bridal Show for the Oregon Convention Center for late January. But vendors were told a month before the show the event was moved to the Holiday Inn on Hayden Island.
Vendors who spoke with KOIN 6 News said they started to panic and reached out to Webster for more information. That's when they got a mass email 11 days before the show date that the entire event was canceled due to harassment from a vendor.
"If the vendors are threatening you, you don't cancel the whole show," said Darrel Hames, the co-owner of Carver Events Center. "You deal with your vendor, you try to work things out and make it great for everybody. And that is not what she did."
Natalie Tegarden, who owns Olive Branch Farm, wants her money back.
"If you pay money and you don't get goods and services for it, I think all of us should definitely be getting a refund," Tegarden said.
Hames said he chose a 10x20 booth on a corner.
"I paid the money and then nothing. No communication. No response," he said. "I probably called at least a dozen times and about the same number of emails."
Hames said he paid about $2500 just for the booth. "But there's more than just the booth. There's the business cards, the handout materials, the publicity. So we're probably out $5000 or $6000."
Tegarden said she paid $1475 for a 10x10 booth. On top of that, she said. "I spend probably about $2000 in flowers."
In her message to vendors, Webster said she filed a claim with her insurance company in order to give any refunds.
Webster refused to provide KOIN 6 News with the number of the police report she said she filed, and KOIN 6 News could not confirm Webster filed a police report about the alleged harassment. She refused to do an interview for this story, but in an email said, "The harassment is NOT made up."
The Portland Bridal Show was not the only event canceled. Officials with the Salem Convention Center confirmed a bridal show organized by Webster for that venue was also canceled.
Hames said he's reached out to other vendors to see what legal action they're taking. "I did file a complaint with the state attorney general and I have filed in small claims court."