The Lantern Fest is a series of festivals across major US cities, where tickets are routinely sold before permits are secured. When these events fail to receive permits, The Lantern Fest's parent company, Sack Lunch Productions, either postpones the event or pushes it to a different location without issuing refunds (.9news.com/news/local/next/theres-something-shady-about-colorados-popular-lantern-festival/428677355). In at least one case, The Lantern Fest is also under investigation for continuing to sell tickets for an event in Goldsboro after being informed the event would be illegal under the fire code (newsargus.com/news/archives/2017/11/29/lantern_fest_under_investigation/).
As one more complete example, the Washington, DC event was initially to be held in Delta, PA (2.5 - 3 hours away), then postponed without warning to an unknown location and without issuing any refunds. Their statement on the FB event page: "Once we have solidified our contract with a venue we'll add the actual address in." This means that they are continuing to sell $60 tickets without having an established venue. Given fire code regulations in the area, it's doubtful they'll secure a nearby location at all. A popular theme with all these postponements is a lack of refunds given, even if an event will likely never take place.
I would appreciate any assistance available to at least temporarily ban The Lantern Fest (and perhaps the parent company, Sack Lunch Productions) from further selling tickets on Eventbrite until the investigations against its malpractices have concluded. This way, Sack Lunch Productions will be unable to continue collecting money for events that, in some cases, are illegal to hold in the first place and without issuing refunds. This really is akin to a mini Fyre Fest!
Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Facebook Page: facebook.com/thelanternfest/
DC Facebook Event Link (there are others for different cities): facebook.com/events/1742978929342704/permalink/1753194084987855/?notif_t=event_mall_reply¬if_id=1514575937447378
Eventbrite Profile (where money is collected and this should be removed): eventbrite.com/o/the-lantern-fest-11490128799