Sturgis Canada closed a day early because of low attendance and a shortage of volunteers, according to the music festival and motorcycle rally’s president Joan Hansen.

Approximately 1,100 tickets were sold in advance of the festival, which ran Aug. 21 to 23 at the old Mountainfest site. Hansen said there were some tickets sold at the gate, but the final ticket count was not known as of press time.

She said she estimates there were about 2,000 people at the festival site on Saturday night, when headliner Burton Cummings played.

In terms of volunteers, Hansen said they had about 100 confirmed, but only about 45 actually showed up.

As for those who bought tickets for Sunday’s shows, Hansen said they are working on a plan, and are leaning toward offering some sort of credit as opposed to a full refund.

“We’re not going to make any promises at this point, but we’re working on a plan,” Hansen said.

Hansen said weather may have been an influencing factor in the low turnout as the area did see some rain.

“We didn’t have a whole lot of people show up from Merritt on the Thursday — the free day — but it could possibly be weather-related as well, which I’m thinking it is,” Hansen said.

She didn’t say whether or not the festival will return to Merritt next year, as organizers will need to evaluate if the Merritt-area site is a viable location based on the numbers.

Hansen said she’d like to hear from the people and business owners in Merritt to see if Sturgis Canada has their support.

“I don’t want to come back if there’s no support,” Hansen said.

“We’ve already heard a lot of people want us back, but we’d like to know from the business perspective whether it was even profitable for the town.”

City of Merritt chief administrative officer Allan Chabot said the city is supportive of festivals and events, realizing they can bring cultural and economic benefits to Merritt.

Chabot said he’s heard suggestions through other media sources that the Merritt RCMP had too many roadblocks at the festival and caused too many problems, which he disagrees with.

“I think some accusations have been made and certainly that’s of concern to us, particularly if they’re not accurate,” Chabot said.

The music festival site is privately owned land in the Thompson Nicola Regional District and is not part of the City of Merritt.

Hansen said while she’s heard complaints from festival patrons about the RCMP roadblocks, she had no issue with the police.

“We appreciate the police and they helped us a lot,” Hansen said. “I’m very grateful towards the RCMP.”

Merritt RCMP Sgt. Norm Flemming addressed city council at its regular meeting on Tuesday night regarding rumours police had something to do with the early shutdown.

He said the rumour that police seized upwards of 30 motorcycles is false as they did not seize any motorbikes.

He also said the detachment did not bring in any officers from out of town.

Merritt RCMP Staff Sgt. Sheila White told the Herald there were only a few violations over the course of the weekend. Tickets were issued for having improper helmets and for having improper driver’s licences.

During the festival, White said, police responded to four calls at the site of the music festival — two arrests were made for drunk in public on Friday without issue and they were taken to jail to sober up.

White said police responded to “a consensual fight” between a member of the Hell’s Angels and a member of another motorcycle club on Saturday night during the Burton Cummings concert.

On Sunday morning, police responded to a call of causing a disturbance between staff members of Sturgis Canada. No charges were laid in that incident, she said.

Unpaid bills

The owner of the Merritt Intown Inn is upset with Sturgis organizers, claiming they have yet to pay a bill totalling about $5,000 incurred during this year’s festival.

Qian Xiang — who also goes by the name Chen — said he has yet to be paid a penny for the rooms booked for the Sturgis Canada festival.

He said organizer Ray Sasseville booked upwards of 40 rooms.

“I couldn’t sleep for two or three days,” Chen said. “Oh man, this is horrible.”

The bill is for $4,791.20.

“They hurt the business,” Chen said.

He said the RCMP told him there was nothing they could do for him about the welshed debt.

Merritt police Sgt. Norm Flemming said that to his understanding, an agreement was made between the two parties to settle the bill after the fact and, in that case, it becomes a civil matter.

“Essentially, you’ve extended credit to the individual,” Flemming said.

The Merritt legion is also owed payment from Sturgis Canada, but treasurer Marguerite Kempin said she isn’t expecting to be paid as not much beer was sold.

Kempin said the legion was given a contract good for $5,000 to serve the beer at the festival’s beer garden.

She said the legion was also to receive another $5,000 if the festival netted $10,000 from beer sales, but said that bonus is unlikely.

“If you don’t make money, it doesn’t matter if you have your contract signed with blood on gold paper. If there’s no money, there’s no money,” Kempin said.

Hansen told the Herald festival organizers are putting their bills in order and working on a repayment plan for the Intown Inn as well as the legion.