Friday night, KATC investigated a Margarita Crawl that is planned for Saturday, January 25. Our newsroom received several phone calls, emails, and messages from viewers concerned that the event was a scam.
After our Katie Easter reported on the event in our 10 o'clock newscast, the company responded to her emails from earlier that afternoon with a statement.
please fix your news story since here is our proof the host bar was apart of the event but back out last minute and caused all all of the issues. If they would of participated and took care of our clients then there would be no bashing or issues when we have done nothing but try and bring a fun event to your area.
See below in fact they did agree to the event pre hand;
Included was the above email, allegedly from The Wurst Biergarten, canceling their participation. The Wurst Biergarten told KATC Friday night that they had never agreed to 'host' the event.
"Please remove us as hosts immediately. We will be posting on social media our cancellation of participation," the email reads in part.
Shortly after, Wurst Biergarten was removed as a host by the coordinators.
Katie responded, asking when participants could pick up their wristbands and they replied they were "working on that now."
Hi Katie,
Our staff is working on that now and the news story is not helping us. We have done nothing wrong but worked hard and put over $2,750 in advertising and $3,000 in shirts and KOOZIES and stadium cups and travel to come out and bring people together for a fun event and to bring more business to local establishments.
Thank You
When asked if they wanted us to add an official statement to our story, the company replied:
We apologize for the inconvenience and are working hard to make this a fun event. We have no bad intentions and just want to bring people together to check out establishments they possibly have never been to before over checking out Some great local margaritas and supporting local businesses.
Thank you! Please let me know when you update it.
They also said they would notify Katie when they finalized a new host bar.
Below is a Facebook post from the organizers, Bar Crawl Unlimited, saying in part, "They [The Wurst Biergarten] canceled on us for NO REASON...we are being made out the bad guys."
The Margarita Crawl is scheduled to begin at 2 in Downtown Lafayette. Another venue listed, La Carreta, said the organizer was supposed to arrive there at 6:30 Friday evening, but at closing time, no one had showed up. A Mimosa Crawl is scheduled by the same company for Sunday in Lafayette starting at 11 a.m. That event page also lists The Wurst Biergarten as a participating venue.
The company has added Agave in Parc Lafayette to their event page as the "registration point."
Find Katie's original full story here.
