STOWE, Vt. (WCAX) – Artists and organizers are still cleaning up after wind ripped through the Stowe Foliage Arts Festival and the big top tent came crashing down, destroying thousands of dollars worth of arts and crafts.
A few days after the disaster at the festival, artists are looking for answers and organizers are trying to get them.
“They lost money, they lost equipment and stuff like that– tents, setups and booths and stuff. I know it’s going to impact them going forward. I feel personally very, very bad about that,” said Tim Cianciola of Craftproducers.
Cianciola has put on the art festival for the last 40 years, and within that time, he says their tent has never collapsed due to wind as it did on Sunday.
“As of right now, they have not given me any reason why it happened. We are answering, you know, 20 phone calls a day. I don’t even know how many calls a day. Mostly just trying to keep everyone in the loop,” Cianciola said.
More than 80 artists had their work under the tent when it collapsed, some losing thousands of dollars.
Some artists remain frustrated by how the situation has been handled.
“There has to have been a permit for that tent to go up in the town of Stowe. Who issued that? Who inspected that? I am disappointed with the response from the organizers,” said Michalle Merchant, an artist.
“To add to that– you know, we look at the future of exhibiting under a big top tent. I really now have to think twice about it,” artist Kate Slocum said.
Cianciola says he’s not sure what the future holds for the festival.
“We were in national publications and things. It took a lot of work to get to that point. To think that might be gone, it kind of hurts.” Cianciola said.
The company Big Top Tents says they are currently in contact with their insurance company to see what can be done next.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe has been set up for the artists.
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