'Very misled': OK vendors say OK Air Fest not as 'family friendly' as promised
EL RENO Okla. (KFOR) — Dozens of vendors say an air festival event held in El Reno last weekend was not up to their standards as a family friendly event.
News 4 first started looking into complaints tied to the inaugural OK Air Fest event in early September. OK Air Fest was advertised online as a one-of-a-kind three-day celebration happening September 5-7 at the Canadian County Expo Center. The event was co-founded by Carri and Wallace Lawrence. News 4 has featured the couple in previous reports regarding efforts to reopen The Crossroads Mall Convention Center in Oklahoma City.
The OK Air Fest website promises excitement across land and sky with hot air balloons, acrobatic paramotor and paraglider shows, live music, vendors, food trucks, kids activities and nightly performances. The website also said that those attending could expect a daytime experience geared towards family, but at nighttime, "not so much."
The Lawrence's told News 4 September 4 more than 100 vendors had signed up for the OK Air Fest. Prices online were listed as $250 for food trucks and prices ranging between $160-$260 for vendor tables.
"It's very family friendly," said OK Air Fest co-founder Carri Lawrence in an interview with News 4 on September 4.
One vendor told News 4 employees last week she was pulling out of the festival due to concerns with the organizers connections to a marijuana festival called Chronic Palooza. The vendor said she had asked for her money back for the cost she paid for a vendor table for the event, but that organizers had told her the vendor fees were non-refundable.
News 4 employees did some digging and found that the Chronic Palooza event was being advertised online with a poster for the same weekend as the air festival, at the same venue. State records show Carri Lawrence owns an LLC for Chronic Palooza, but that the LLC is inactive. We noticed the Chronic Palooza social media account was actively promoting air fest, and while Carri Lawrence admitted there were initial plans several months ago to host the event, they never came together.
"We stopped it," said Carri Lawrence. "We pulled all the marketing. If that's still up there, I'm surprised. I didn't know that was even still up there because we've changed everything on the website."
It's important to note News 4 could not find any recent updates to the Chronic Palooza website outside of the social media account activity and the poster. The same poster stayed on the social media page for Chronic Palooza even after News 4 employees raised awareness to the Lawrence's about the confusion.
The Lawrence's said that they do have previous experience in the cannabis space for several years and used their platform and experience to cross-promote OK Air Fest. They said they have experience with cannabis and non-cannabis events like haunted houses, kickboxing events and more.
"This particular event is a different thing," said Carri Lawrence. "It's a different concept and it just has nothing to do with the past events that we've successfully achieved as well."
News 4 reached out to the Canadian County Expo Center September 4 for comment on the vendor concerns and potential marijuana use. A spokesperson shared the center's use policy which specifically says the facility is a smoke free space; and Canadian County District 1 commissioner Tomas Manske stated that the county had only signed an agreement for OK Air Fest, not Chronic Palooza.
"Our use policy, point blank, says no smoking or tobacco use of any kind within the facility itself; and our agreement with them is with OK Air Fest," said Manske. "I don't know anything about the other."
Over the September 5 weekend a News 4 employee began receiving dozens of complaints from vendors who said they weren't satisfied with how the air festival was going. The complaints largely revolved around similar issues: attendance, feelings that the event wasn't a family friendly space and concerns vendors had been taken advantage of as a front to still host Chronic Palooza events regardless.
"There was a lot that was not very PG 13," said Kraig Reed, with Crystal Dragons Hoard.
"I think it was very, very misled," said Stephanie Taylor with JC Italian Freeze.
"Not family friendly at all," said Lisa Rainer with Anchor & Thread Co.
Vendors in attendance said the festival featured an experience they were not prepared for they say wasn't consistent with their understanding of a family experience or the experience they were told to expect.
It started with what vendors describe as a marijuana friendly culture during periods of the day children would be present. OK Air Fest advertised nighttime events as being for adults only; but vendors described heavy marijuana use. It's important to not none of the videos or images pertaining to marijuana use News 4 has reviewed online and have been shared by vendors contain use of it inside of the expo center. Video and images News 4 has reviewed shows marijuana use in the open air pavilion of the expo center during the day and smoking tents set up outside of the venue as well. One vendor News 4 spoke with said she brought her 10-year-old son and the smell was so strong it wafted throughout the entire faciliy.
"You can smell it with people passing by, smoking it," said Dede McKenzie of Urban Chic Creations.
In a lengthy interview with News 4 Monday Carri Lawrence said she stood by her words during a September 4 interview and that the definition of a family friendly event is open to interpretation.
"It is legal if a medical patient who has their current card felt that they need to medicate outside," said Carri Lawrence.
News 4 reached out to Canadian County Sheriff Chris West for comment on the matter, but he declined to answer specifics. He did note that his office had received at least two reports pertaining to the air festival, but declined to share the matters those reports pertained to.
News 4 was also told by vendors pre-packaged joints were handed out during the daytime portion of the air festival. They shared video proof, and said the products were handed out to anyone who wanted them.
"I was flabbergasted," said Lisa Rainer of Anchor & Thread Co.
Carri Lawrence denied approving the handouts, telling News 4 she never saw any illegal substances on the property.
"Because all these people are lying and making up all this **** about us I can't even pay my staff," said Carri Lawrence.
Vendors also raised concerns about foot traffic tied to the air festival, although not guaranteed, they shared an email from Carri Lawrence from August 15 this year regarding expectations.
"We expect thousands of people daily so come prepared and ready to sale sale sale," wrote Lawrence. "I have attached a few things for your review. One is the OK AIR FEST WEEK That was signed by Gov. Stitt- This is HUGE! I am so excited to launch this event with each and every one of you and look forward to an amazing weekend!"
News 4 reached out to a spokesperson for Governor Kevin Stitt's office September 8 regarding a signed proclamation by Stitt for OK Air Fest week but did not hear back.
Carri Lawrence told News 4 Monday she believed that if vendors with complaints had been "more positive" the event would have been a success. She admitted that the aftermath had served as a bad investment for her and the vendors, but said that she made it clear with them these were all hopes; and that there would be no refunds. Lawrence said she had nothing but good intentions in hopes of making history.
Oklahomans who say they were hired for the even, who reached out to News 4, confirm they haven't been paid. Lawrence said she and her family had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because of the event, but declined to share a specific number regarding how much was spent to pull it together.
County leaders say they're aware of concerns. News 4 reached out to a spokesperson regarding concerns the venue use policy had been violated, but a spokesperson directed vendors with concerns to file a report with the Canadian County Sheriff's Office. News 4 received the following statement from the Canadian County Expo Center on September 8:
"The Canadian County Expo Center would like to share the following statement regarding concerns raised by vendors who participated in last weekend’s OK Air Fest event.
We want to make clear that Canadian County Expo Center served solely as the rented venue for this event. The Expo Center’s venue rental contract was with OK Air Fest, LLC, a company in good standing with the Oklahoma Secretary of State and managed by the event’s promoter, Carri Lawrence. OK Air Fest, LLC rented the Expo Center facilities for the event and OK Air Fest, LLC was solely responsible for all communications and contracts with vendors for their event. The Canadian County Expo Center’s only role in the event is providing the venue to the promoter. The promoter is solely responsible for promoting and managing the event, to include managing their relationships with their vendors.
The Canadian County Expo Center is aware of the concerns that have been raised regarding the promoter’s management of their event and we can assure everyone involved that we will carefully review our policies and procedures and make any necessary adjustments regarding factors that we, as the event venue, can control. As with all events that take place at our facilities, we are committed to learning from each experience and identifying ways that we can improve our operations. As a world-class facility hosting over 50 successful events annually, the Canadian County Expo Center is dedicated to its mission of creating significant economic impact for the benefit of the citizens of Canadian County."
Canadian County Expo Authority
Vendors who are out of hundreds of dollars asked News 4 the following questions to share with Oklahoma City attorney Noble McIntyre regarding if they should consider taking the matter to court or not:
Q: What do you make of this situation?
Noble McIntyre: Well, it's interesting. I mean, you have a first time event for which they certainly had hopes and aspirations that it would be a bigger event than it was. Weather did not cooperate with them; and it turned out that the event that they hoped for did not come to fruition. The problem is you have a lot of vendors who took time and money to show up at this event and offer services to the expected crowd and the crowd did not show up; and now you have some very angry vendors wondering why it went so wrong.
Q: Is there a way to legally recoup costs?
Noble McIntyre: Any claim is going to be governed by the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits any false, misleading or material statements to that regard. So my question for any client that would come talk to me would first be, do you have anything in writing? You have anything in writing that shows that what you were promised was what you were promised, or is this only going to be verbal? And it's not that verbal won't work. It will work under some circumstances, but you have to have some evidence. The problem they're going to have is the fact that this is a first time event. There were weather issues that it's going to allow the event promoter to say, hey, this didn't happen because of this, not just because we didn't promote it. Well, the biggest problem anybody's going to have is because this was a first time event. The entry fee was relatively low. It's my understanding it was around $200 to set up a booth. It's very difficult to litigate for something that's the $200 margin, because even if you go to small claims court where you don't need an attorney, you still have a filing fee and it's still going to take a good percentage of your day. And the question is, is it worth it? It's only worth it if you can get everybody together in one class, one one case. At that point, if you can get all of the vendors to join together in one claim, then it might be worth pursuing.....I don't want to make the misimpression that damages are just limited to the $200 entry fee they can have a claim that they came out and spent time and effort setting up and that they expected some revenue that they lost and that their damages are what it cost to set up and maybe miss some other events. So there is an opportunity for additional damages just beyond the $200 entry fee. They're harder to prove, but they're not impossible to prove.
Q: Do you feel like anyone would would stand a decent legal chance in terms of getting what they want out of this, or should they just write it off and warn people if they have concerns about it?
Noble McIntyre: Oh, it's like anything else. If something's happened to you and your primary objective is you don't want this to happen to somebody else, irrespective of the money that you might get back or the refunds you might get back. If the goal is this didn't have this happen to me and it wasn't good and I don't want it to happen to the next person, then it doesn't matter that you're not going to get much money back or any money back. What you want is your day in court and you want to hold these folks accountable because it will be expensive for them to to come defend themselves. And sometimes the only way you effectuate change is to hold the wrongdoer accountable. So it certainly is worth doing that.
Friday night, multiple vendors News 4 has been in contact with say they received the following email from the OK Air Fest Team offering marketing services free of charge to promote their businesses:
"On behalf of our entire team, I want to sincerely thank you for being a part of the very first OK Air Fest. Launching a new festival is always a big leap of faith, and we truly appreciate that you took that leap with us.
This year’s festival brought many highlights that made history for Oklahoma — including incredible paramotor acrobatic performances and unique attractions that thrilled those in attendance. The guests that did attend really enjoyed the festival and felt they made some great memories. While overall attendance was lower than expected the guests who joined us had a memorable experience, and several vendors shared that they made strong connections and enjoyed being part of the event.
As a fellow small business, I understand the challenges that come when an event doesn’t meet the turnout we all hoped for. Please know that this impacted us just as much as it did our vendors, and we deeply value the investment you made in joining us for our first year.
To show our appreciation, we would like to extend a special opportunity:
A complimentary 10–15 minute professionally produced interview and showcase of your business. You’ll be able to bring your products, share your back story, (we won't be talking about the event only your brand to help you get sales) and highlight any upcoming events where customers can find you, your websites, social medias and contact info so they can buy your products. Our team will edit and publish the video across our social media platforms and on our RokuTV channel if you choose — a $500+ value — at no cost to you.
Your feature will not only appear on the OK Air Fest Facebook page, which has already reached over 750,000 views, but also through our wider network. We manage several other marketing pages that collectively reach over 2 million viewers, putting your brand in front of a powerful audience beyond the festival audience that we could have achieved. We will give you a copy so you can use it for your social media and marketing in the future.
All vendor fees for the 2025 OK Air Fest were final, and while we cannot offer refunds, we hope this media opportunity serves as a meaningful way to continue building exposure for your business, market your products and services and help you get some future sales. We believe strongly in what we started this year and are already looking forward to building on this foundation for future events. Your participation helped us take the first step , we learned alot and see areas we can improve on for next year and we are truly grateful.
If you’d like to schedule your interview session, please reply to this email and we’ll work with you to set up a time and day over the next few weeks to have you come into our TV Studio in OKC. If you are not interested, we understand and respect your decision, but we wanted to do what we could to try to help market you for future sales and business."
OK Air Fest Team