HOLI FESTIVAL OF Colours Dublin 2015 has been cancelled amid mass confusion on Facebook about whether or not it was going ahead and after 19,000 Irish people clicked attending on the event.
In a statement this afternoon, organisers confirmed that the event, scheduled to take place this Saturday, had been postponed until further notice due to circumstances outside its control.
Just under 5,000 tickets had been sold for the event.
If you’ve been on Facebook over the past few months, you probably noticed your friends clicking attending on the event.
The event, organised by the Berlin-based Holi Concept GmbH, is inspired by the Hindu festival of the same name. Known as the festival of colours, Holi features revelers throwing coloured powder and water at each other.
Holi events have previously taken place in Trinity College.
This Dublin event, however, was set to be an outdoor festival of sorts with acts such as Al Gibbs, Mr. Belt & Wezol and Warriors set to perform.
Holi Concept GmbH held their first event in 2012 and have since brought the concept to many cities, including London, but this was the first time the festival was set to come to Ireland.
Interest was clearly huge with over 19,000 Irish people clicking attending on the event, which was slated to take place in Iveagh Grounds, Dublin 12.
Tickets went on sale in March with three ticket packages available for purchase on Eventbrite, ranging in price from €34.99 to €47.99.
On June 5th, organisers announced that the event was sold out and invited fans to register their interest for a second day.
And five days later, ticket holders were informed that the original venue of Iveagh Grounds in Crumlin, Co. Dublin, had fallen through. Organisers stated that they were in discussions with two new venues.
Holi Festival of Colours @ Iveagh Grounds Crumlin is not going ahead, we are looking for a new location. We are working extremely hard and trying to secure a Bigger venue for the same date. Currently we are in talks with 2 new locations and awaiting the go ahead from them. As soon as we hear any news from them we will inform you all on our page. Please be patient guys. We PROMISE to bring you an Epic festival you won’t forget.
Venue change
On June 15th, it was announced that the venue had been moved to Fairyhouse Racecourse and that there would be bus transfers available on the day.
Four days later, however, Fairyhouse Racecourse announced on its Facebook page that it would be not hosting the festival.
Fairyhouse Racecourse told DailyEdge.ie:
We were in discussions with the organisers about running the event at Fairyhouse, we were approached at a late stage due to a previous venue change. The local authorities were not satisfied that the event could be safely planned and run due to the short lead in time and we decided it could not therefore go ahead.
Since then, there had been no updates as regards the status of the event and many people had taken to the event page to complain about the lack of communication.
The festival website lists Eventbrite as the contact on its official website and a spokesperson for Eventbrite explained to DailyEdge.ie that the event was having difficulty finding a venue.
It’s not a made-up event. This is meant to happen. It seems that they have run into difficulties with the venue for this event.
Eventbrite state that they have a long history of working with the event organisers on Holi Festival events in different cities across Europe and stated that they had been “in touch” with organisers to ascertain whether or not the Dublin event was going ahead.
However, they also explained that their role is strictly to “facilitate the transaction” between the ticket seller and ticket buyer.
Refunds
One of the main concerns Holi Festival ticket holders have had is whether or not they will be entitled to a refund as festival organisers clearly state on their Eventbrite page that refunds are “not possible”.
The lack of clarity on whether the event was going ahead or whether people were eligible for refunds prompted a stream of comments from attendees trying to flog their tickets.
Nice try, guys.
Eventbrite told DailyEdge.ie that organisers decide their own refund policy and Eventbrite cannot issue refunds on behalf of event organisers.
Having said that, while we are not the organiser or producer of events on our platform, we do listen to our community and care about attendees getting access to the experience that they paid the organiser for. We are currently working with the organiser to get further clarification surrounding the Holi Festival of Colours in Dublin.
The statement from the organisers advised that refunds would be available and told ticket holders to contact info@holifestival.com.
However, organisers also added that tickets will remain valid for any future event that goes ahead in Dublin and assured fans that they will “work day and night” to bring the festival to Dublin later this summer.
DailyEdge.ie has contacted festival organisers for comment and further information.
