Those who attended the anticipated Sweet Escape Fest in Regina over Labour Day weekend say the event spiralled into uncertainty on its final night – as security was severely limited and artists took to the stage to say they weren’t paid.
The two-day event from Aug 30th to 31st was slated to feature 24 hip hop artists and DJs in Regina’s Victoria Park. Organized by Phoenix Entertainment in collaboration with Origami Barbershop, tickets for the all-ages event ran from $79 to $309.
Travis Murray bought VIP passes after hearing about the festival at Country Thunder Saskatchewan.
“[A] couple friends talked about it, and we bought tickets right then,” he explained. “They said you get a VIP area. They had a map where you get right up to the stage, and it looked good. The lineup was incredible.”
Nohl Purdue was another member of the group. He said the event was advertised well and certainly generated some excitement.
“They were supporting it online pretty well. It picked up a lot of buzz, and it looked okay from those types of background points. They had all their bases covered,” he explained.
But as soon as the group entered the gates, certain issues became quite obvious.
Refunds Denied
According to Murray, after paying an additional $100 to upgrade one of their tickets to the VIP area – the group was told the bar was shut down.
The reason given? Lack of security.
“Went right up to the bar, and they were like, ‘We’re closed,’” Murray recalled. “I was like, ‘What?’ Like, it’s 8:30 and no. ‘There’s no security. We need 20 security, and there’s only five, so we can’t serve any liquor, sorry.’”
According to Murray, he was instructed to go to the entrance if he wanted a refund for the tickets.
“So we went to the front, and then the one guy, the manager there or something, said, ‘Okay, we’ll give you a refund, but you got to get out then,’” Murray explained.
“He was trying to kick us out, and it was just him and nobody else. So I said, ‘I’m not leaving because I paid over $600 for three of us.’”
Sweet Escape organizers Jeremy Lauagan and Simon Tekeste spoke to CTV News Tuesday. They spoke on the issues faced by attendees Saturday.
“Due to the breakdown in security, we were unable to continue selling tokens for alcohol which made some customers upset,” Lauagan said.
“But we clearly communicated that we couldn’t serve you due to lack of security, so it wouldn’t be a safe environment due to people being intoxicated.”
As for the reason why drink tokens were continuing to be sold Saturday evening while there was inadequate security to do so – Tekeste claimed the security team had been delayed and ultimately declined to show up Saturday night.
“We called every security team possible, and unfortunately, we didn’t have a security team by then. We also understand that by then, the VIP was already pre-sold, and there was at this point nothing we can do. So we started stopping with the VIP.”
Security Concerns
As a result of minimal security, Murray claimed a DJ performing on stage resorted to asking the crowd on multiple occasions to break up fights.
“He’s like, ‘Whoa, guys, break that up. Break that up,’” Murray recalled. “There’s no security anywhere, so they’re asking the crowd to break up the fights and there were multiple fights that night.”
According to the Regina Police Service (RPS), no charges were laid at the festival over its two-day run.
On Friday, officers conducted routine walkthroughs of the grounds and responded to one injured person and one overdose outside of the grounds. Several intoxicated people were arrested but none charged.
Saturday was quite different.
“There were issues with staff, security, and entertainers not being paid, and the power was shut off by staff around 4:30 p.m. and remained off for approximately 50 minutes,” an RPS response to CTV News read.
According to the service, RPS’s public safety unit, SWAT and extra patrol officers attended as a precautionary measure.
“Aside from some fights that were broken up, there were no major issues for police that night,” the response read.
Regardless, Murray said his group was left worried by what they were witnessing on the festival grounds.
“It felt weird because, like there was a fight on the left of the stage and then on the right, like there’s going to be a brawl at some point and get trampled or something,” he explained.
“So, it didn’t feel very safe.”
‘Ain’t Got Our Money’
To cap off the concerns, three acts took to the stage on Saturday night to claim they had not been paid for their appearances at Sweet Escape Fest.
Crowd video of the event captured headliner Polo G’s introduction prior to his set.
“We got on a jet this morning, we came to see you guys, right? When we got here, when we got here the promoter ain’t got our money,” he said in the video, addressing the crowd.
“All day we been waiting for our money but Polo G say he f*** with y’all so much we still gone rock out,” he continued.
The same was true for performers SonReal and Jazz Cartier.
“SonReal, first thing he says on stage, ‘I did not get paid. So I’m gonna do a couple songs,’ Murray recalled. “I give them props for showing up at an unpaid event.”
Both Lauagan and Tekeste chalked up the artists’ comments on the stage to miscommunication between the artists and organizers, saying payment issues have since been rectified.
“Unfortunately, there was a misunderstanding about payment arrangement and details concerning the deposit through the bank and their final payments. But it’s been resolved now, and we’re definitely committed in improving our communication and transparency in the future,” Lauagan said.
“We’ve been in contact with the management team, the artist’s management, everything’s being processed correctly on our end, and they seem to understand everything’s going on. So we’re good,” Tekeste added.
Accountability Needed
Both Murray and Purdue told CTV News they would like to see a refund or at the very least – an apology from organizers.
“I’d like to see a refund, but I know that might not happen,” Murray said.
“That type of accountability has to kind of fall on someone, especially the organizers, who weren’t able to fulfill those promises,” Purdue added. “So it’d be nice to see any type of just apology, a stance on this kind of anything besides what they’ve been doing currently.”
While speaking to CTV News, Lauagan and Tekeste did apologize for the issues faced by attendees but stopped short of promising refunds.
“We’re taking the right steps and processes to see on our end what needs to be done legally. But as of right now, we cannot guarantee anything,” Lauagan explained.
“I want to reach out to everybody and apologize,” Tekeste said.
“Again, it wasn’t our intent. We wanted to end off the summer with something very memorable. I know there’s a lot of negative stigma because it was a hip hop festival, but at the end of the day, we don’t want to give up, and we still want to give the community something to look forward to the future.”
Lauagan shared that he sees the festival as a success.
“We got the show off, even without security and even without a beer garden. So I mean, I would call that a success,” he said.
“If someone says something different, I’d like to see them try to pull that off, because most people would have to shut down a festival under those circumstances … Some of the things didn’t go as planned, but we are looking to do it again, and we can come back stronger, better and smarter.”
Murray said it’s doubtful that he’ll be lining up to get tickets if there’s a second annual Sweet Escape Festival.
I don’t think so … They were posting on their pages, Polo G and all these good things, and it wasn’t very good.”
