Is this Fyber Fest?
Outraged guests at New York’s Vegandale are comparing the much-hyped plant-based party to the “Fyre Festival” because of its long lines, water and toilet paper shortages and other issues.
“We were hungry, grumpy and miserable,” said Rocco Marrongelli, 46, a graphic designer from Queens. The New York Times of the failed event, for which he queued for an hour before giving up and returning home.
The New York leg of Vegandale, part of a forage-show bonanza spanning eight cities across the United States and Canada, took place last Saturday at Citi Field.
The festival attracted thousands of attendees who were eager to visit the more than 200 vendors and enjoy a brilliant performance by GloRilla.
Instead, they were met with a huge line at the entrance due to too few metal detectors and a lengthy process to obtain tickets, which ranged from $15 for general admission to $90 for VIP access.
“I don’t think they had the manpower to deal with the waves of vegans trying to break down those doors,” Marrongelli complained.
An assistant complained in a Reddit thread that there were only “two employees” to control a crowd that “had grown to encompass the entire exterior of Citi Field.”
And that was just the tip of the iceberg. lettuceGuests who did manage to get in (and probably thought they were in better condition) had a hard time finding shade or seating amid the 84-degree heat. Others reported shortages of toilet paper, as well as drinking water and water in the bathrooms for handwashing.
Sanirena Denerville, a 30-year-old social media manager from Brooklyn who walked in after waiting an hour, said there were only a few stalls selling water and she was dizzy from dehydration.
While waiting in line, she reportedly heard that at least one person had fainted and been taken to the hospital, a claim made by other Vegandale attendees in the aforementioned Reddit thread.
Denerville said she couldn’t even wash her hands after using the bathroom because the sinks had run out of water, the New York Times reported.
“Some security officers came out to offer bottles of water, but the crowd attacked those people,” Marrongelli said.
Online, some are Now they demand refunds and Claim the recent Chicago event It was just as bad. Meanwhile, Vegandale has disabled comments on its Instagram page.
Many critics compared the fiasco to Fyre Festival, the ill-fated 2017 luxury music festival that left thousands of attendees stranded on an island with nothing but meager food and emergency tents.
Reddit detractors even urged visitors to report the milkshake-slurping party to “the New York City Department of Consumer Protection and the New York Attorney General.” The Times reported that the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) received two complaints, as did the state attorney general’s office.
It wasn’t just attendees who took issue with the event, which began in Toronto in 2015.
Erica Muñoz, owner of Pinche Vegana who has had a booth at Vegandale in New York for several years, said organizers changed the fee structure to charge a 30 percent commission on all sales instead of charging a flat fee per booth.
He estimated that this cost him $3,000, three times what he had paid for previous events.
Despite the stomach pain, many attendees posted Positively about the evening While Denerville admitted that she enjoyed the delicious vegan offerings like the jackfruit empanadas.
“We had to deal with some logistical challenges, which is part of working in a new venue,” said Jenna Lindsay, Vegandale’s vice president of communications and entertainment. “It was our first year at Citi Field, but the overall experience was really positive.”
