Borders festival called off

Speaking with Newsday via phone yesterday, founder and organiser, Sheldon Monderoy said in addition to the bill received by the protective services, there was an additional expense which brought the total up to $500,000 to be paid in a 24-hour period. “We are going to do it again...The fact that I just lost $2 million in an attempt to do something good for this country and this country needs a festival like this,” he said. The festival was supposed to fund a national sporting database.

Monderoy said the festival could have gone for bigger names in the industry but instead chose to, “go for the artistes who don’t have visibility in this country.” It was admittedly difficult to get sponsorship for the event, he said, saying, “we had gone to everyone you could think of...

and we did not get a red cent from everyone to support this.

In a release, the organisers said refunds would be given from May 31 by going to the outlets where tickets were purchased.