What was intended to be an important fundraiser heading into Communithong has now been cancelled. This morning, it was announced that the Comedy Night, featuring Kelly Taylor and Weyburn’s DJ Richy Roy, would not be taking place tomorrow night.
“The primary reason that we had to cancel was simply because we weren’t able to sell enough of our tickets in advance to be able to assure that we would meet the expenses that we would be incurring to host the event,” explained Lynda Rideout, the Chair of the Communithon Committee.
Rideout noted the tendency for Weyburn to have low advance ticket sales for events can sometimes make it difficult to plan for various events.
“We rely on knowing numbers in order to know if the event will be feasible,” Rideout said. “Especially when an event consists of a meal, because oftentimes when you order catering, the caterers need to know a specific number in advance so they can themselves prepare to bring in all of the food that they need to make a meal. So, when we have a specific cut-off for deadlines for that, it makes it really difficult to be able to say we’re going to have so many people come just on a guess, and then we end up having to pay for that expense anyway because we’ve logged in for that many meals.”
The issue also comes with the booking as well. Often times for entertainers, there is a deposit required, and that deposit isn’t always refundable. This means the advance tickets need to be sold to ensure they will at least make back the deposit.
“It makes it really challenging to be able to bring these kind of great events into our community and end up having to cancel them at the last minute,” Rideout added. “We hear there’s not a lot of things to do in Weyburn sometimes, and so you know, really encourage people in our community that when you do see these events and you’re at all interested, please jump in and get involved so that we can continue to build in entertainment and activities that are fun for everyone within our community.”
Those who purchased a ticket will be able to get a refund by returning to where they were purchased.