A “winter village” out in South Australia has been slammed by parents, leading event organizers to apologize for it.
What’s going on?
The Santa’s Winter Village event, hosted at the Colonnades shopping center in Adelaide, South Australia, has been under criticism for its recent display, BuzzFeed News reports.
- Tickets cost $27 per person. A family of four could attend for $92.
Angry parents called the event “cheap” and a “scam” since the experience leaves a lot to be desired.
- “It’s like they just got everything from Kmart cheap as chips,” Ellie, from South Australia, told Yahoo Lifestyle. “It looked cheap and tacky compared to the photos they used to promote the event.”
Attendees posted photos on social media of the village.
A furious mum posted today about how a ticketed 'Santa's Winter Village' event in Noarlunga, South Australia is a scam, warning other parents away.
— Tom Tanuki (@tom_tanuki) December 16, 2020
She's right. Check her photos. It looks like the Fyre Festival of kid's Santa events. pic.twitter.com/6F4tHrZLsj
The event’s response:
The event — which was set to run from Dec. 12 to Dec. 23 — has been stopped for now to deal with the negative feedback.
Event organizers released a statement on Facebook, saying the team would discuss recent concerns.
We have arranged with the team at The Ice Skating Edge to close Santa’s Winter Village today, stop selling tickets to the event and arrange refunds for those who have been disappointed by the event, the message read. We’ve listened to your feedback and, we agree, Santa’s Winter Village does not meet the expectations of our customers, the broader community or our team at Colonnades and we apologise for the disappointment and inconvenience this has caused our customers.