 © Lucy Cherniak | Dreamstime.com | Narcity By Antonia Altomonte Carnival Kingdom – the largest and most anticipated concert in Toronto for the past seven years was scheduled to take place Saturday - August 04, 2018. This second biggest Caribana event was unfortunately called off just two hours before the start of the concert – and attendees had already started lining up for this sold out event. The City of Vaughan pulled the plug on the concert by revoking the permit. The staff at the city of Vaughan and the chief licensing officer made the final decision Saturday morning (the day of the event). They conveyed the bad news to the organizers over text message only two hours before the doors opened. No warning was given ahead of time, leaving organizers with no time to even find an alternate venue. This is what the City of Vaughan posted to their Twitter accounts:  © City of Vaughan | Twitter  © City of Vaughan | Twitter VIBE105 reached out to Gus Michaels - Director and Chief Licensing Officer, City of Vaughan and received the following statement on behalf of the Corporate & Strategic Communications Department – City of Vaughan, outlining three different reasons as to why the permit was revoked:  © City of Vaughan The annual multimillion dollar event, run by Summer of Sound (SOS) Fest Inc., is also the company’s biggest concert event. This was the First time SOS Fest tried to host the event in Vaughan at the Improve Canada outdoor entertainment complex on Keele St by highway 407. Improve Canada has been providing space for many festivals. In a statement regarding the cancellation on their website, SOS Fest stated: “We had no authority on the city’s decision”. Even some of the artists like Machel Montano and Bunji Garlin, who were set to perform posted messages on Instagram for fans, showing their support and letting people know the cancellation caught them off guard as well. SOS posted on Facebook that refunds for Carnival Kingdom have already begun.  © SOS | Facebook  © SOS | Facebook It’s such a shame that a sold-out event, expecting over 5,000 people from all over the world would get cancelled on such short notice. Concert goers are shocked and furious - there has been a lot of backlash on social media platforms regarding the situation. Many comments say there is more to Carnival Kingdom shutting down besides “noise complaints” and “over capacity” as the venue – located in an industrial area, is designed to hold up to 20,000 people. #JusticeforSOS For more information on the cancelled Caribana event check the video below: © CityNews Toronto | YouTube
|
