CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – The North Florida Balloon Festival turned out to be nothing more than hot air.
The festival, which gained a lot of attention through Facebook, was supposed to be held the day after Halloween in Keystone Heights, but it was canceled just two weeks before.
Many eventgoers say they’re still waiting for a refund.
News4Jax Consumer Investigator Lauren Verno spoke to the festival’s coordinator.
They said they are working to make sure everyone gets refunds for the North Florida Balloon Festival and that the cancellation happened due to venue issues.
The events organizer, MidFlo, claims to host balloon festivals across the nation.
North Florida Balloon festival said “the airport board made a decision to not proceed just 16 hours after authorizing ticket sales. That is why we are where we are.”
The airport Midflo is referring to is Keystone Airpark in Starke, where the festival was supposed to take place.
When we contacted Keystone Airpark they said the event did not submit all materials needed on time, and that is why the event was canceled.
But many ticket buyers like, Tim Ogden, cannot understand why it has taken so long to get a refund.
“It’s not a large amount of money, it's about the principal and other individuals. If you take $22 times 500 people or 750 people or 1,000 people now were talking about an excessive amount of people, but I felt the need to bring this to the attention of somebody as I was not the only one having a negative experience.”
The organizers said if someone is still waiting on a refund, they can email them at midflotickets@gmail.com with their confirmation number.
The company is scheduled to host three more balloon festivals across the state this month. Organizers told me those are still scheduled as planned.