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Rescheduled Funk Fest concert in KC not happening

Posted at 2:23 PM, Jul 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-20 18:39:06-04

Variety Entertainment released a statement on Thursday saying the rescheduled Funk Fest concert on August 19 will not be happening. 

The concert was canceled in June due to severe weather. It was initially rescheduled at Kaw Point Park.

“They said it was going to be set up at Kaw Park, and I said okay, at least they're trying to make it up,” Funk Fest ticket holder Tamara Stricklin said.

But according to the Kansas City Kansas Unified Government, proper steps to hold the event there were not taken by Variety Entertainment.

“I mean, I was just disappointed for the second one, and now come to find out, it's fallen through,” ticket holder Joe Kiggans said. “And it's just like come on, I wish they would just make up their mind and figure out where they're going to have it.”

A few days later, it was announced that the concert would be held at Wyandotte County Fairgrounds, which later fell through.

Like Stricklin, Tricia Medlock said she paid more than $500 for the original Funk Fest concert.

“I can’t afford myself to just go concert after concert after concert. I was really excited, I was ready. It was the perfect getaway,” Medlock said. “To be given the runaround so many different times, it’s like how many times are you going to get our hopes up? I want my money back. I don’t want to hear about another concert that they’re willing to compensate.”

Here's a statement from Variety Entertainment's CEO, Leo Bennett, about the issue.

After severe weather conditions caused the abrupt and early termination of our initial concert in Kansas City on June 17our team has worked tirelessly to return to the market for the benefit of the community to provide fans with the world-class entertainment experience our company has delivered in over 15 cities across the country for more than 20 years.  We solicited the assistance of local resources, like the Heartland Black Chamber of Commerce, in our search for a new location. In three instances, venues that initially agreed to allow Funk Fest 2.0 to be hosted at their locations subsequently (and without warning or justification) decided to cancel our reserved dates. We were blindsided by these actions, and we are truly apologetic about any confusion this may have caused fans who were excited about seeing the all-star line-up that we had assembled. 

We have attempted to leverage every relationship and resource possible to locate a viable venue for our concert, but because of the challenges and road blocks we have experienced, we will unfortunately be unable to return to Kansas City in 2017.

“It's very, very frustrating because at some point there should be some accountability,” Stricklin said.

She said she and several others have reached out to the Kansas General Attorney’s Office.

Right now, it’s uncertain whether or not a concert will be rescheduled for next year.

41 Action News will be sure to keep you updated as we hear more.