A row has erupted in Easter Ross after a mini music festival was cancelled just two weeks before the event because of poor ticket sales.
Tain Gala Association was under fire yesterday after pulling the plug on the Bash at the Burgh gig at the town’s Duthac Centre.
Several bands were booked to play the event on Saturday, May 14, but the association decided to cancel it after selling little more than 20 tickets.
Nicky Murray, a volunteer who was helping to organise the event, took to social media to vent her frustration at the committee’s decision to axe it without consultation.
She also questioned why the £30 tickets had only been put on sale at two outlets – the Wool Shop in Tain and the Trentham Hotel in Dornoch – despite having been urged to make them available online.
In a post that was shared by close to 400 people in the space of just 24 hours, she wrote: “We now have heaps of people out of pocket, and loads of folk wasted money, and made plans, and booked things, and everyone has to pick themselves back up.
“The gala committee have stepped out completely and are not willing to help in any way.”
Dozens of other users criticised the decision to axe the gig at short notice throughout the day.
Tain councillor Alasdair Rhind, who is a member of the gala association, issued a robust defence of the committee last night, however.
“It’s quite simple, what happened. The tickets didn’t sell,” he said.
“If these people are on social media now, why didn’t they come out and buy a ticket for the event? They didn’t, so the event had to be cancelled.
“It was going to cost £6,000 to put on. If they had sold a couple of hundred by last weekend then I wouldn’t have been worried, but they hadn’t, only about 20 had been sold.
“I’m quite amazed that everybody is up in arms about it and making quite sarcastic comments about me personally and members of the gala committee, but they didn’t buy a ticket.
“Now it’s cancelled everybody is suddenly interested. I’m very saddened by it all, to be honest, but what can you do?”
