Unsold tickets are represented by the pink circles while yellow signifies sold tickets. The tickets were $155 and the nonprofit has announced they will reimburse people who have already bought them. Photo courtesy of the Plaza Theatre.
By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Helping the Hardworking, a “nonprofit organization dedicated to recognizing hard-working individuals in the community,” officially announced via a social media post that the Lil Jon concert that was initially planned to take place on Feb. 24 is cancelled due to financial risk and ticket sale concerns.
“The ticket sales have not went as we would have hoped to at this point,” the nonprofit’s post read. “We cannot risk the additional financial loss.”
Jamie Bewley Byrd, Barren County Judge-Executive and head of Helping the Hardworking, echoed the sentiments of the post saying while cancelling the concert was “the last thing she wanted to do,” the fees coupled with the less than hoped for ticket sales forced the decision.
“I thought after the Super Bowl maybe we might sell more but we haven’t,” Byrd said. “The only way we could lose less than what I’ve got in it would be if I were to sell $40,000 worth of tickets between now and next Saturday and that’s a huge risk. [Cancelling] is the last thing I wanted to do, believe me, I did not sleep last night over this.”
According to the post the concert, with all the fees included, cost roughly $145,000 and at this point the nonprofit will lose the $55,000 deposit.
“I hate to do this but I’ve got to take the loss because I would still have to send another check for $55,000 to get him here. I’d have to pay for $22,000 worth of production that he requested,” Byrd said. “It was like I was telling someone earlier: You’ve got to pick the less of two bad situations.”
According to the Plaza Theatre’s website — which was hosting the concert and still has the concert listed with a disclaimer reading “The organizer of this event has cancelled due to financial issues” — many of the balcony and much of the back half of the main floor tickets remained unsold. Helping the Hardworking stated they will reimburse individuals who have already purchased tickets.
Helping the Hardworking also planned to bring Niko Moon back to the Plaza in January, but that was postponed due to heating issues at the theater. They have announced that has been moved to some time in November.
“If I had $90,000 worth of tickets sold at this point we’d have the concert, but we just don’t have it,” Byrd said.
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