Bridlington Old Town Association address social media backlash and 'disgusting' comments following cancellation of Vintage Festival

The Bridlington Old Town Association announced on social media that they unfortunately had to cancel the 1940/50s festival set to take place this weekend.

The event has now been taken over by a number of Bridlington traders who wish to keep the festival going, and even though the roads will not be closed, stalls will be set up in many pubs and shops across Old Town.

Following the announcement, the association received a lot of backlash for their decision, with many disappointed people voicing their disappointment and upset at the last minute cancellation.

The association claims that their members have been sent many ‘disgusting’ private messages about this decision.

One person on Facebook said: “Their whole attitude now is letting the town down. “Proper community spirit is making the new event go ahead, and that's what needs to be celebrated!”

Another person on Facebook said: “The Old Town Association may have totally let us down but as a community we're pulling a phoenix out of the ashes.”

The Association has released a statement explaining their contentious decision to cancel the event. The statement reads:

“The Bridlington Old Town Association were devastated to have to cancel the 1940’s festival this year.

“The cancellation was wholly due to a member of the committee, who was tasked and trusted to apply for the road closure and event’s licence, as he had in previous years.

“He failed to do this on time and by the time he admitted this to us and despite last minute efforts by the rest of the committee and fabulous staff at the Highways department at the East Riding Council, permission could not be granted to hold this event.

“To clear up a few points we have been accused of:

“We had and have always had the correct insurances in place for this festival.

“We have not received any grants for this festival, any sponsorship that was asked for has been withdrawn.

“We were asked to hand over the traders list, via Facebook, because of GDPR regulations we could not do this.

“Before we could even put out that we were trying to downscale and recover at least something, another event had already been arranged without anyone contacting us directly.

“Individuals that have been blocked, is not because of advertising the new event, but because of the awful nature of the message, and certain ones that had also chosen to private message committee members.

“Because we chose to get in touch with all our valued traders and entertainers first instead of leaving them in the dark we are being bullied and receiving private messages that are disgusting for trying to do the right thing.

“We have organised this event and many others since 2010 and have never had to go through anything as awful as this.

“We do however, hope this new event is very successful, and wish the new organisers, traders and entertainers every success.”The Vintage festival is now being run by a selection of Bridlington businesses and is set to take place on Sunday June 11 between 10:00am and 4:00pm.