After his experience with Ridge Fest 2, Chad Pothier says he will think twice before lending out one of his vehicles to promote an up and coming concert in the future.
The general manager of Pothier Motors in Falmouth says he loaned Kevin Brown, Ridge Fest’s entertainment co-ordinator, and Brown’s business partner, Ridge Fest 2 event co-ordinator Mandy Deveau, a 2011 Ram 1500 in May to show his support for the concert that was supposed to bring Blue Rodeo, Jimmy Rankin, Chilliwack and The Northern Pikes to the Hants County Exhibition Grounds, in Windsor, Aug. 5-6.
“They originally wanted a $10,000 donation from us,” Pothier said in a phone interview Aug. 11.
“We ended up just giving them the truck for the period of the concert.”
Pothier says the truck, valued at about $47,000, would cost close to $4,500 to lease for the period of time Brown used it to market Ridge Fest 2.
“It was a community event. We were hoping it would… have brought a great deal of money and business into the Town of Windsor,” he said of Pothier Motors’ investment in Ridge Fest 2.
“We were hoping it would… be a successful event, but we weren’t quite that lucky.”
Pothier said he collected the truck outside of an apartment building in Wolfville a couple days after he was informed of the concert’s cancellation by Brown via BlackBerry Messenger on Aug. 2.
“The running board was smashed the whole length of the truck down,” said Pothier, adding that the bumper was cracked and missing paint.
“It was a mess.”
Pothier says he has been trying to contact Brown to discuss how the $1,104 repair bill, which was addressed to Brown, will be paid since it was mailed out Aug. 11, but he had not received a response as of Aug. 22.
On Aug. 11, Brown told the Journal that an invoice should be issued to Ridge Fest if there was “an issue with any damage.”
As of Aug. 22, Brown said he has yet to receive a copy of the invoice.
