The team behind a grilling festival on Quebec’s North Shore have been pleased to see donations pouring in this week to help them recoup some of their losses from a $22,000 mistake.
Festi-grîles de la Côte-Nord made headlines when organizers asked attendees to be honest and pay up after a bug with its payment system led to hundreds of people accidentally getting free admission.
Within a week, people — including some who hadn’t even attended the festival — donated a total of $13,000, said the event’s president, Hugo Rossignol.
“I’ll be honest, we were expecting the generosity of the public. We knew people wouldn’t let us down … We’re very very happy,” said Rossignol.
“We weren’t asking people for charity, because we still had a good turnout. We knew that we’d have to cover our costs, but the goal was really to get people who had attended the show to pay for it in the end.”
‘Immediate response’ from people wanting to help
The three-day event welcomed 6,500 people in Sept-Îles, Que., on Aug. 10. Admission was $25 for one visit or $65 for a three-day pass.
At first, the festival, in its fourth iteration, was going great. Then, someone spotted a problem on Saturday night. No money was entering the festival’s account.
Rossignol learned there had been a problem with the payment terminals at the entrance to the festival — the machines weren’t connected to the internet, so no payments were going through.
He says the team was “floored” that $22,000 didn’t get into their account.
“We decided to go ahead with the festival without telling people, and on Sunday morning we issued a statement asking people to check their receipts,” said Rossignol.
“It was quite an immediate response, we had a lot of people who hadn’t attended the festival, but who decided to donate.”
He says he was in communication with people out of the region — even messaging with a man from Ontario who had heard about the mistake online and wanted to donate.
“I told him it really wasn’t necessary. We weren’t asking people for charity, but well, he really wanted to,” said Rossignol.
“He said, ‘I have a small company too, so we’ll give you this, and you can pay it forward’ … Which is something I will do.”
‘Even if it’s a small gesture, at least it could help them’
Myriam Labbé lives just a kilometre away from the site of the festival. Although she didn’t attend, she heard about the problem with the festival’s pay terminals on Facebook.
“So I told myself, ‘well to help, I can make a small donation.’ I gave $20, and even if it’s a small gesture, at least it could help them,” said Labbé.
“It’s interesting as a festival … on the North Shore, I don’t think there’s another one like it.”
As a resident of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam, she says she’s seen how local businesses and restaurants can go under and didn’t want it to happen to this festival. She hopes to attend next year, if organizers are able to recoup costs and organize another edition.
“It’s really fun to see that everyone really wants the festival to come back year after year,” said Rossignol.
“A big thank you from the bottom of our hearts for showing us that people really appreciate what we’ve done. Because listen, it’s an unfortunate mistake. It can happen to anyone. It’s great to see people supporting us on this.”
More Stories
Fair share: the right office solution can take finding the right partner
Ontario faces crew shortages, aircraft issues in fight against wildfires | Globalnews.ca
Refugee attends open house at Downtown Eastside affordable housing facility – BC | Globalnews.ca