Zozobra 2018 – We Are Ready to Make Amend

By The Kiwanis 

An expedited meeting of the Board of Directors of the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe on the Sunday afternoon after the burning, a decision was made to implement the recommendations of the Zozobra Event Chair for issuing refunds for those who were unable to attend Zozobra.

The refund will consist of separate ways to make reparations:

1- A refund of the ticket price.

2- A complimentary Zozobra poster from this year’s event

3- Complimentary tickets to next year’s burning

4- For our out of town patrons, a complimentary hotel stay between November 2018-April 2019, or a discounted rate of $79 (normally $329 per night) for Zozobra 2019 taking place on Friday, August 30, 2019

Following is a statement from the Zozobra Event Chair, Ray Sandoval:

First, we owe a heartfelt apology to 1,500-2,000 who were not able to attend the event because of our mistakes. I take full responsibility for the failures that led up to your being left out.

In an effort to be transparent and clear, below is an explanation of what occurred. It is an explanation, not a justification or excuse for our failures.

The decision to allow backpacks came as a result of reaching out to our community in the hope that we could give people what they asked for. We knew that this would be a security challenge, and we were prepared with a plan. At about 7:15 p.m., the gates were running smoothly, but the separate backpack lines were already experiencing congestion. In a good-faith effort to help speed up the process, a security manager made the decision to utilize an additional 5 gates to check backpacks.

Unfortunately, this led to a miscommunication in which all gates were utilized, conflicting with the separation of entry points called for in the plan. Our failure came from the inability to recognize that this miscommunication had occurred and not having personnel with onsite authority to correct the situation and put us back on the plan. We do not blame the weather, but the weather was a contributing factor.

Due to pressing concerns regarding lightning and safety, official communications regarding the mistakes at the gates did not filter up to the event organizer. This too was a failure. We should have had the proper communications protocol in place to deal with the weather situation, and at the same time, receive information from our gates. As the event organizer, I take full responsibility for these failures. We want Zozobra to be a world-class event, and so we must hold ourselves to that standard.

After the passing of the first storm, our weather expert from the National Weather Service advised that a second storm cell was approaching the venue location. We were told that the cell would be equal to, or stronger than, the cell that had just passed, so I made the decision to start the show 30 minutes early.

Because of our failures at the gates, when people heard the fireworks announcing the National Anthem, they became frustrated at the amount of time they had already spent trying to enter the venue. This resulted in some people rushing the gates and breaking through the security perimeter. Because we had lost the ability to search the remaining backpacks, a decision was made not to allow anyone else in.

Because we want this event to be attended by all, we must take responsibility for our failures. Therefore, we are announcing today that those event-goers who were prohibited from entering can fill out the form below to begin the process for their refund. In addition to a speedy refund, we will offer those individuals tickets to next year’s event, and they will alsoreceive a free poster from this year’s burning.

Finally, for those who traveled long distances, our hotel partners, the Drury Plaza Hotel will provide those individuals an opportunity to enjoy a stay at their upscale downtown Santa Fe property.

Rumors that the event was oversold or over capacity are not true. Had it not been for the policy change to allow backpacks combined with a miscommunication that deviated from the plan, an the weather, the entry would have been problem-free.

The refund process is now open and will be accepting applications until Monday, October 15, 2018, at the following link: https://burnzozobra.com/refund/ The reason we must set a deadline is to donate the net proceeds of our event as soon as possible to help the nonprofits who Santa Fe’s kids.