ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A local music festival celebrating 1990s nostalgia has left ticket holders frustrated after being delayed for the third time.
The “As If 90s Fest” was originally scheduled for May 17 but has been rescheduled multiple times, leaving fans uncertain about when — or if — the event will take place.
A family who bought VIP tickets back in October shared their disappointment, saying they had taken time off work only to be left disappointed. Despite a billboard still advertising the festival for June 21, organizers have not confirmed a new date.
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“Kind of aggravating,” said ticket holder Brandon Collins.
“Very upset,” added Kaylee King.
The event, now facing its third reschedule, has many pointing fingers at the organizers.
“They should have been on top of their game,” Collins said.
Organizers have blamed the delay on problems related to another event. Although they did not name it, Action News Jax learned that Ancient City Entertainment, which runs the As If 90s Fest, also organized the Blue Crab Festival in Putnam County. That festival received criticism in May for high food prices, fewer vendors, and the absence of a carnival.
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“They put everything in the Blue Crab Festival, and they could have done a lot better for us,” said Collins.
The As If 90s Fest quietly moved its date and location before finally announcing the latest postponement to June 21. However, the new date has not been officially confirmed.
Organizers have promised that all ticket holders will be refunded by June 14.
“I haven’t seen anything back at the moment — honestly, don’t know if I’m gonna get the money back,” Collins said.
Many online have echoed the same concern, saying they haven’t been able to get answers. While the festival’s Facebook page is still active, both its website and Ancient City Entertainment’s website are currently down.
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“We are super disappointed to have had to refund our ticket holders and move our forward to the fall. This year, the event site we had originally planned to do the event at had serious infrastructure issues, and in moving it forward, we had a conflicting event that took longer to bring to fruition.
“We always want to deliver a show worth having, and with our customers being our primary concern, refunding their tickets was the first objective, so that we can move forward from a position of strength and credibility,” said organizers in a statement to Action News Jax.
They also noted that the website was down while they updated festival information and that they only have about 30 more refunds to issue before all ticket holders are reimbursed.
“Our web person was waiting on an update and we didn’t want to leave it up with incorrect details and half the information, It should be back up within the month next 6 weeks hopefully as we finalize the new details- The ticketing point of sale is through eventbrite not our website for refunds so that is the proper avenue to proceed,” said an organizer.
Despite the ongoing issues, Collins said his family may still attend if the festival happens.
St. Johns County Parks and Recreation gave Action News Jax a statement Friday about the As If 90s Fest organizer, saying:
“Around one month ago, the organizers of the 90s Fest event submitted a request to use the county fairgrounds. A date was identified in their application was received, but then forwarded it to the sheriff’s office for a review because that’s our standard event procedure afterward civil members of both Parks and Recreation and the sheriff’s office made multiple tries to contact the organizer of the event to discuss necessary details and compliance requirements, but we only recently received a response. Once we finally did establish contact, we provided them with the deadline of June 6 today to finalize all outstanding details with both Parks and Recreation and the sheriff’s office as of this time no further communication or required documentation has been received also despite public indications by the organizers suggesting a future event date at the fairgrounds no formal request or follow up. Communication has been submitted to Parks and Recreation regarding any such plans.”
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