Toby Keith Freedom & Dignity Festival Cancelled
We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there will not be a Freedom & Dignity Festival this Saturday @ Schaumburg Boomers Stadium. According to the Daily Herald, the concert which was a benefit for Café Liberty, a Wheaton-based nonprofit that provides free culinary job training and placement for Chicago-area veterans in need, and The Dan Gibbons Foundation was cancelled by the Foundation. The Foundation released a statement on Wednesday thru their Facebook Page:
TO: Chicago Metropolitan Area Media DGTT Foundation Supporters and Donors
FROM: Dan Gibbons Turkey Trot Foundation
DATE: August 7, 2019 11:30 AM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Dan Gibbons Turkey Trot Foundation regrets to inform you that the Freedom & Dignity Festival, scheduled for August 10, 2019 in Schaumburg, Illinois has been cancelled. For ticket related refunds, contact Mike Birt of Imagn Events, LLC, at (630) 414-6219. Imagn Events terminated ticket sales the morning of August 7, 2019. All ticketing questions should be directed to Imagn Events.
Imagn Events was to provide a country music festival that would benefit Café Liberty, a charitable arm of the Foundation, at a great music venue. The Foundation licensed the use of its name and agreed that Café Liberty would be a charitable beneficiary of the festival. Schaumburg Boomers, a supporter of veterans and their families, agreed to provide the venue for the music festival.
Over the past week, it became clear that no one would see the music festival as planned. Problems that arose led to significant concerns that those materially supporting the event would not be compensated and that Imagn Events was unable to deliver on its obligations to provide an enjoyable event for all attendees and performers. On August 6, 2019, the Foundation terminated the agreement with Imagn Events. Unfortunately, Imagn Events continued to sell tickets. The past 24 hours, Schaumburg Boomers and the Foundation worked tirelessly together to salvage the music festival, with each entity considering taking on or continuing to take significant losses to adjust matters. The Foundation continued to believe in the event and the venue. However, the operational hurdles remaining and the limits facing the Foundation as a result of loans made to Imagn to allow the booking of the performers, prevented the Foundation from saving the event despite our very best efforts and cooperation from the Boomers.
The Foundation has the best interests of veterans and their families as its central mission. It has worked for their benefit for 35 years. In 2018, Imagn Events (itself comprised of veterans) offered to provide the festival that would benefit the Foundation, specifically Café Liberty. When Imagn Events failed to perform and told the Foundation that it was unable to perform, the Foundation realized not only its longstanding reputation was at issue but also that the circumstances posed risk to hard working people, law enforcement and ticketholders. The decision not to proceed was a difficult decision. The Foundation remained hopeful that the event would lead to a significant donation benefitting those it serves.
Questions pertaining to this release can be directed to Dan Gibbons at (630) 868-3003. For ticket-related refunds, contact Mike Birt of Imagn Events, LLC, at (630) 414-6219.
Imagn issued a statement late Wednesday afternoon responding to the cancellation.
“The Dan Gibbons Turkey Trot seriously and irreversibly damaged our reputation, finances, and business contacts all because they have failed to honor their agreement, failed to make payments when required, and put themselves first before others,” the statement reads. “As a result we have no other choice but to exercise any and all rights available under the law and expect to be doing so in the very near future.”
A representative for the promoter said ticketholders should email [email protected] regarding refunds.
The Schaumburg Boomers released this statement thru Facebook”
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Schaumburg, IL – The Freedom and Dignity Festival, previously scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 10th, has been cancelled by Imagn Media & Events, the concert promoters who organized the event to benefit Café Liberty, a charitable arm of the Dan Gibbons Turkey Trot Foundation, benefitting veterans and their families.
The Schaumburg Boomers, who were contracted solely to provide the venue for the charity country music festival, were notified on August 6, 2019, that the Foundation terminated their agreement with Imagn Media & Events as a result of Imagn’s inability to perform its obligations to the Foundation due to financial reasons. The Foundation stated in part, “Imagn Events indicated that it lacked the financial strength to perform its obligations not only to the Foundation, but also to the owner of the host venue, performers and musicians, workers and suppliers.” The Schaumburg Boomers received confirmation on August 7, 2019 from Imagn Media & Events that they were unable to proceed with the music festival.
“Both the Boomers and the Foundation are extremely disappointed in Imagn’s decision to cancel the festival,” President of Salvi Sports, Brian Lyter said. “When our organization was approached last winter about providing the venue for a Veteran-supporting event, we were honored to have the opportunity to allow the festival to be held at the stadium. We were also thrilled that such an event would be available to the Schaumburg community. We were shocked with the cancellation. We have been preparing for this event for months and were ready to go. The cancellation is extremely disappointing to the Boomers organization, our vendors and service providers, our staff and most especially, the Schaumburg community and the veterans that would have benefitted from this event.”
“As strictly the venue for the event, we were responsible for traffic control, in-stadium security, ushers, and concession operations, all of which were set and ready to operate at the Boomer Stadium.” Lyter further added, “the Schaumburg Boomers merely provided the venue for the festival. We were not involved in ticket sales or ticket revenue collection, and the Boomers and did not receive any ticket revenue from Imagn whatsoever.”
Questions pertaining to this release can be directed to Michael Larson or Brian Lyter at 847-461-3695. For ticket-related questions, contact Imagn Events, LLC, at (630) 765-7415, or email: [email protected]
