HOWARD COUNTY, Md. — Quetina Quartey said she felt scammed.
She attended the Asian Food Festival on Saturday at the Howard County Fairgrounds.
Instead of a day of fun, Quartey and other event-goers left with frustration.
MORE: Organizers apologize to patrons of Asia Collective Night Market
Those who went said the Asia Collective Night Market was nothing but a nightmare.
Festival goers told WMAR -2 News said it was "overpriced and overcrowded."
“I felt scammed by this entire event,” Quartey said.
Those attending the festival said people spent most of their time waiting in long lines just to get overpriced food and drinks with little accommodations to the heat.
“There were some picnic tables but even that wasn't enough shelter for the sheer amount of people that were there,” Quartey said. “I think I did see someone on crutches and I was like where are the accommodations? So, I was also looking around because there should be some type of first aid tent or something like that, especially if we're going to be out in the heat like this.”
Traffic was also a major issue.
A lot of performers even missed their call time because of the all-out bumper-to-bumper traffic.
“I abandoned my car and had to chuck it by foot,” a performer told WMAR-2 News. “I felt like I was in a game of survivor or something. I knew that I really just wanted to play music for my community and show up for my community because I haven't seen anyone like me who's trans masculine and Korean on stage.”
Organizers did apologize in a post to Instagram, part of it reading: “due to unexpected sheer volume of individuals who did not have tickets driving to the fairground, our top priority immediately shifted to reducing traffic wait times, so we decided not to check parking tickets at the parking lot. Despite the hard work from the police and our staff, we were overwhelmed. We are sincerely sorry to those who are unable to come to our event.”
“They sold 26,000 tickets in a space that could probably hold like 5,000 people maximum,” Baltimore resident Ngaire Philip said. “I think them saying that it was because of people coming who didn't have tickets, it's just them trying to shift the blame off of themselves and not taking accountability for the fact that this is just, through and through horrible planning.”
For those with emails and concerns and requests, send an email to f2entertainment.md@gmail.com.
