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Rhythm 'N Balloons vendors still wait to be paid, plan possible lawsuit

Posted at 6:29 PM, Oct 24, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-24 19:32:03-04

Vendors who claim they still haven't been paid for the Rhythm 'N Balloon Festival say a class action lawsuit may be filed against the event organizers.

The Rhythm 'N Balloons event was supposed to held in late August at Hodge Park, but on the last day of the three-day event, organizers canceled the festivities for "unforeseen circumstances related to the weather.”

Nearly two months later, several vendors said they still had not been paid.

"We were expecting massive crowds and there was nothing," explained popcorn vendor Michael Anderson. "We lost all that money. We had all this product and couldn't use it."

Anderson said many vendors lost thousands of dollars as a result of the lack of business and no paycheck.

As a result, Anderson said the impact of the event cancellation reached beyond the festival weekend.

"Moving forward, it affected us," he said. "That was money taken away from that next show. It had to come out of our personal pockets."

Other people associated with the event, including an undercover KCPD officer who provided security for the festival, said they too had not yet been paid.

Around half a dozen vendors contacted by 41 Action News said a possible class action lawsuit was being planned against the event organizers as a source of recourse.

Details of the possible lawsuit were not revealed, but Anderson said he hoped it would help the vendors get paid back.

"If anything, give us our money back," he said. "(It would provide) vindication for a lot of them (vendors). I didn't lose as much as a lot of other people did."

41 Action News stopped by the Leawood home of Rhythm 'N Balloons organizers Steve and Roberta Small on Monday.

No one answered the door and calls have not been returned.

Their home now sits for sale for more than $500,000. A real estate agent said the home went on a sale about a month after the event's cancellation.

Regardless if he gets his money back, Anderson said the Rhythm 'N Balloons experience this year would make him take a closer look at event organizers.

"We're going to go into future festivals looking at them (organizers) a little harder," he said.

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Tom Dempsey can be reached at Tom.Dempsey@KSHB.com.

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