Ex-partner 'sick to stomach' over Vancouver Outdoor Expo
VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) -- Andrew "Bubba" Young was not only one of the unhappy vendors at the recent Vancouver Outdoor Expo, he's a former business partner of the event organizer Shane Barbour.
"I'm sick to my stomach thinking about how Shane conducted business," Young told KOIN 6 News.
Young said he was speechless when he saw the lack of attendees at the 3-day show at the Clark County Fairgrounds. He said -- as others have told KOIN 6 News -- he was promised tens of thousands of people would show up to the event.
Billy Sanborn, a vendor with Beach Bandit Crab Snares, said he was impressed there were "55,000 pre-sold tickets. I'm like, 'Wow, that's going to be some good exposure for me. Here's my credit card.'"
He said he put off paying some bills "to buy stuff for the show. And now it's time to pay rent and I didn't make anything."
Fairgrounds statement
Other Vancouver vendors said the Clark County Fairgrounds had warning signs about Barbour.
"Several phone calls to the expo center, right here, begging them do not allow this guy Shane to use this venue for this expo," vendor Andrea Baker told KOIN 6 News.
In a statement to KOIN 6 News, Fairgrounds Manager John Morrison said:
"We received a call about an investigation being opened and we were asked if there was a show contracted here. We responded in the affirmative and were told there was nothing further we needed to do. At that time the promoter had satisfied all the contractual obligations for the event."
'We believed him'
Bubba Young said he's known Barbour for 13 years. He admitted his Sportsman Expo in Reno suffered the same lack of attendance as Barbour's show in Vancouver, but he also said they were not in business together until recently.
Asked if Barbour was ever involved in the Reno show, Young said, "No, not at all. And he's never going to be."
Now, as hundreds of vendors ask for their money back websites advertising Young and Barbour's upcoming shows are still live. Young said they won't happen.
"We believed him, just like all the other vendors there in Vancouver. We thought, shoot, this is going to be amazing, and it's not. So those shows are canceled," he said. "I have the paperwork right here for dissolving those companies."
Young said he has refunded vendor deposits for expos in Spokane and Nampa and is working to cancel and refund the remaining two in Yakima and Wenatchee.