ISLA BLANCA PARK PREMIER EVENT SATURDAY A "TOTAL" FLOP

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Valley Central

KVEO

What if Cameron County held its first premier show at its spanking new multi-million Isla Blanca Park and everything – including no-show by its headliner acts – went horribly wrong?

That's exactly what happened – as reported by numerous news media and Facebook pages – during its Sol Beach Festival on Saturday evening. Thousands of outraged fans are now demanding ticket refunds after the concert that should have featured Puerto Rican rapper, Myke Towers, turned out to be a flop.

Some of these tickets are valued at $120 a pop and may amount in the $10,000s.

The fans blame Cameron County Parks and Recreation and promoters and organizers of the beach festival after putting on a “disorganized” event and failing to deliver promised performances.
Their list of complaints have filled the social media pages and include:

* An 8 p.m. start that was scheduled in an Isla Blanca Park parking lot and promised VIP sections and tables, several bars, and food trucks never happened.

* Although Myke Towers and all the artists were at the event, no one was able to perform because of continuous power outages caused by inadequate generators.

* The event promised VIP sections and tables, several bars, and food trucks.  

Broadcaster ValleyCentral spoke to several attendees who say the event was “disorganized,” a “horrible experience,” and a “waste of time and money.”

They all say that after waiting several hours in line to enter the event, they found that not only was the event not as advertised, but the artists never came out to perform.

Videos for the concert show a disgruntled crowd standing in the dark, and in some cases throwing drinks and knocking down the railing.

The finger pointing started just after the controversy just the social media pages.

Cameron County Parks Director Joe Vega said AARM Business Group run by father and son, George and Jorge Garcia, were the organizers who approached the county about hosting a show along the beach. He says this was the first show of its kind held at Isla Blanca.

“We entered into an agreement with them to have this event and we thought it was going to be a great event. They did have a wonderful setup, but unfortunately, it ended up not happening,” said Vega.

GG Promotions, which is also affiliated with the Garcias, is who many are saying is responsible for the way the concert turned out.

A separate show promoter, Ram de la Cruz, says that part of the issues was due to a lack of staff at the entrances and generators that could not provide enough power. Though he and his staff were only hired to do marketing and ticket sales, he says some of his people, including artists who were scheduled to perform, had to help with the setup right before the concert was supposed to start.

“It was just a big mess.” said de la Cruz. “I just know the artists were there; every one that needed to be there was there, they just didn’t have the staff needed to set up or the equipment… It was just poorly organized by these guys.”

Cruz says many have approached him about refunds, but he says Garcia is responsible for the show and for the refunds, and he has not heard from Garcia since Saturday morning.