PASADENA : City Pays $19,366 to Settle With Festival Vendors : World Cup: Merchants lost money after being banned from the Rose Bowl area on game days. Settlements include cash and the right to sell at future stadium events.
The city of Pasadena has paid out a total of $19,366 to settle with 10 vendors who complained they lost thousands of dollars after renting booth space at the failed Soccer Carnaval, a monthlong festival that coincided with the World Cup.
The vendors were also given the right to sell at various events at the city’s Rose Bowl in the next year for free, including UCLA football games, the swap meet and the upcoming Eagles and Rolling Stones concerts, according to settlement documents.
The city planned the carnival after World Cup organizers placed their official celebration, Soccerfest, in Los Angeles during the Cup games in June and July. But the World Cup intervened, using the clout in its contract with Pasadena to keep Soccer Carnaval from opening on game days, when the big crowds came to the city. Attendance was so sparse that the carnival-ride operator packed up and left for good on the second day.
Three vendors received the largest payouts of $3,000 each. One vendor, Wood Fired Pizza, received the $3,000 plus rights to sell at three UCLA football games and a concert, agreements reveal. Wood Fired Pizza claims to have lost more than $15,000. Vendors paid up to $7,000 to participate in the festival, and most lost more than that in labor and unwanted stock.
City officials said they paid out an additional $20,000 for extra advertising in the middle of the event after it became apparent it was not drawing crowds. A full accounting of the loss on the festival that was originally meant to raise $650,000 for the city has yet to be completed.
A dozen vendors have not settled with the city. City officials said no negotiations are taking place and claims against the city, a precursor to a lawsuit, have not been filed.
City officials refused to say whether the city’s partner in the festival, Pasadena Productions Inc., contributed toward the settlements. However, those close to the negotiations said the promotions company paid nothing. Its owners claim to have lost $50,000 on the event.
