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Yesterday, Wakarusa officials announced the annual music festival would not take place in 2016 after seven years on Mulberry Mountain near Ozark. Today, festival director Brett Mosiman answered a few questions related to the cancelation and about Pipeline Productions, the music production firm responsible for Waka. Pipeline also partnered up for Thunder on the Mountain and Phases of the Moon, a pair of festivals scheduled for Mulberry Mountain but canceled before they could take place. Several lawsuits have been filed in the wake of those cancelations.
Fayetteville Flyer: Who wrote yesterdays’s Facebook post from Wakarusa? Was that you?
Mosiman: Yes.
No tickets were sold for Waka 2016, which means there are no refunds to provide. Is that accurate?
Yes.
What’s the timetable for resolution on the lawsuit between Pipeline and Madison Companies/Horsepower LLC? (Ed. Note: This is a lawsuit regarding the partnership agreement forged for Thunder on the Mountain)
Unfortunately the wheels of justice turn very slowly. It will likely take a while to get resolution. I have no real idea of knowing when that will actually happen.
Same question, but for the more recent Alexander et. al. vs. Pipeline. (Note: Regarding a class action suit seeking refunds for Thunder on the Mountain tickets) What is the status of that case?
I can’t really comment on that. I will say that we intend to get everyone their refunds upon the successful outcome of our court case which is now able to progress to federal court. Importantly, we did prevail in the first round of the court proceedings with Madison in Delaware which is a very good for us and our patrons.
The Alexander case alleges refunds were not offered for Thunder. Additionally, I’ve heard from several people who have said 90 days have passed and they’ve yet to receive their Phases refund. I’ve also heard rumors that Pipeline’s assets were frozen as some of the litigation works through the courts. Can you provide any current information on those refunds?
Our ability to make timely refunds was precluded due directly to the breach of our former partners. That will be part of our amended claims in the federal court case.
Do you have anything else you want to say to Arkansas, or perhaps more specifically the Ozark community?
We were, as our release noted, extremely disappointed that we were forced to take a year off. Wakarusa has been our love and our passion for a very long time. We’ll take some time now to recharge our batteries and then we’ll get back to what we do. In the meantime, I am personally working tirelessly to get everyone paid back. That is very important to me as they trusted us with their hard earned money. That is the primary reason we are fighting in court. We are fighting for the folks who have been damaged – just like us. It is important to point out that for many years we built a reputation and trust with the fans across many states and that was never broken until some very bad actors put greed and ego and profit before commitment, honesty and responsibility. So we must prevail in court not only to get everyone paid what is owed to them but also to get our reputation back. Finally, we believe Wakarusa to be a wonderfully unique and incredible event and we do absolutely intend to produce it again in 2017!
