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The hugely popular Untappd app hosted its first beer festival at the Bank of America Stadium over the weekend. But the sold-out event which drew an estimated 12,500 attendees and featured 176 of the nation’s best breweries, is now being compared to Fyre Festival disaster by some according to CharlotteFive.
So what happened?
It was sunny when the gates opened at 3 pm and early access ticket holders entered the stadium, along with VIP guests who’d spent $200 for five hours of beer sampling, exclusive beer pours and food pairings, a special meet & greet with Untappd co-founder/CTO Greg Avola, along with a festival swag pack.
Bur social media unrest was almost immediate as festival attendees were confronted with long admission lines to get in and long beer lines once they got in.
“Wow won’t let people inside and charged 60 a ticket,” a festivalgoer with the complained. “1 line to get in. 20k people in line. This may be the worst event I ever came to. Such a letdown.” Twitter@StingyLife
The Charlotte Observer reported that some ticket holders with purses were denied entry. That there were complaints of “rude security guards, as well as about “not being offered a refund on their $60 tickets after severe thunderstorms rumbled into the metro area.”
Beer glass shortages plagued the afternoon into evening event that was extended to 9pm due to rain delays.
And the souvenir sampling glass that was promised wasn’t glass at all… but a thin grade of plastic that tore easily. The Charlotte Agenda reported that “only 15,000 cups were ordered, so as these broke, Untappd had to scramble to come up with other cups.”
Other complaints included popular breweries like Brooklyn’s Other Half Brewing, not being ready to serve Early Admission and VIP ticket holders when the doors opened.
And when afternoon thunderstorms arrived attendees were asked to evacuate the field into the concourse were they were left standing far away from the beer serving stations.
So it was a “perfect storm” (sorry) of circumstances at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Twitter was flooded with so many complaints that the topic was trending across the US…
It was long lines meets breweries not ready to serve, meets cheap plastic cups, meets pour communication and bad weather, that led to a social media meltdown on Saturday and a black eye for the Untappd crew who issued the following statement…
When the lighting entered the area, we worked hard to extend the event to 9:00pm and to ensure a fun and safe evening for all.
If you were turned away from entering the event during the weather delay due to stadium policy, we are deeply sorry and are working on a solution.
We also recognize there was an issue with the partial brewery setup for Early Admission and VIP ticket holders at the beginning of the event and are working on a solution to that as well.
We are so glad the weather eventually cooperated and that those that stuck around from 6:20 to 9:00 had a fun end to the evening.
We will be following up with a full examination of yesterday’s events, including operation issues, and our plan going forward as soon as possible. For specific concerns in the meantime, please email [email protected]”
