Wool & Folk festival vendors reject ‘insulting’ compensation offer
October event was marred by rain
CATSKILL — Five months after the Wool & Folk Festival left vendors and attendees unhappy over a lack of communication, unkept promises and widespread access failures, the organizer has offered vendors restitution that they’ve said only further fuels their anger.
The fiber arts event, held last October at Foreland, went badly. Vendors and attendees said the festival was poorly planned, lacked accessibility, injured attendees and was unsafe. Its failures were exacerbated by rain, which flooded some booths and turned the grounds into “mud city” despite organizers’ attempts to facilitate access by placing cardboard boxes on grass and gravel.
The festival drew intense backlash from the fiber community, who criticized organizer Felicia Stenhouse Eve’s apology as being late and insufficient. They dubbed the event “Fybrefest” — a reference to the infamous Fyre Festival, a 2017 fraudulent luxury music event.
But the Wool & Folk fiasco did not end in October. Since then, vendors have been negotiating via email with Stenhouse Eve, hoping to receive accountability and compensation, and are now at an impasse after the organizer sent a final counteroffer that several described as “insulting.”
Stenhouse Eve defended herself in a statement to the Times Union, claiming that the success of Wool & Folk in 2021 and 2022 in some ways contributed to the disappointment of 2023.
“Our first two events in 2021 and 2022 were very well-received with over 90 vendors and 3,500 guests. The events were stellar and exceeded the community’s expectations. So much so that additional vendors and guests were registered for our 2023 festival,” Stenhouse Eve said in an emailed statement. “It
goes without saying that 2023 did not unfold according to plan because a relatively last-minute venue change required us to adjust, and the weather made matters worse.”
While weather brought many vendors and guests to seek shelter indoors, Foreland was not set up for a full indoor festival of that size, Stenhouse Eve said. So some vendors did not receive their contracted space, and organizers “had to balance that with keeping people safe from the storm.”
“We and the venue did our best to place as many people indoors as possible. This of course means more people in smaller spaces and so some vendors did not receive their full contracted space; we had to balance that with keeping people safe from the storm. Of the 100 vendors, 25 have expressed dissatisfaction, to the point of wanting financial compensation,” Stenhouse Eve’s statement reads.
‘In the spirit of healing’
To participate in Wool & Folk Festival, returning vendors paid $800 and new ones paid $900, plus the cost of transportation, accommodation and donated items for the swag bags. A vendor who wanted to remain anonymous said their total expenses ran to $2,500.
A week after the event, a group of 30 vendors contacted Stenhouse Eve requesting full refunds — a total of $27,150 for booth fees, swag costs and materials purchased to outfit spaces for inclement weather, according to email negotiations provided to the Times Union. The group’s email outlined how Stenhouse Eve had failed to fulfill the contract, including changing the venue and failing to provide adequate space, amenities, promised swag bags, accessibility, and more. Some vendors did not request reimbursement and rather signed in solidarity with others.
After receiving a counteroffer in November that they deemed too low, the group made a second offer in early December that averaged about half of the registration costs in most cases.
At that point, some chose not to continue negotiating, said Lyla Lawless, one of the vendors who requested compensation.
Stenhouse Eve did not provide an update until Feb. 29, after vendors sent two reminders over a period that included the holidays and Stenhouse Eve’s attorney’s absence. Her offer withheld all reimbursement from vendors who declined contracted space or who received negotiated space inside Foreland. Vendors who were shorted would receive between $8 and $250 for the square footage they were promised but did not receive. Vendors who had an outdoor booth would get back 10 percent of their registration fee, according to the emails.
Megan Granger, a vendor who paid $800 to participate, requested a full refund and was offered $250. Lawless was offered $90, or 10 percent of her $900 registration fee, plus $38.58 for weatherproofing materials she had purchased.
“We were certainly disappointed with it after being held on the hook for so long,” Lawless said. She added that she planned to not accept her offer, saying she “found the whole experience pretty dismissive and ridiculous. I prefer to reserve my right to speak honestly about my experience at Wool & Folk for the benefit of other small businesses in the fiber industry.”
The offer also asks recipients to not criticize the event publicly in the future — a condition that has further angered the vendors.
“In the spirit of healing, the agreement will ask the signing vendor not to publicly speak negatively of Wool and Folk going forward. This is a small business that wants to remain in the community and do its best,” reads Stenhouse Eve’s email to vendors. “Constant negative publicity erodes that ability.”
One vendor who indicated no loss and requested $1 in solidarity was reimbursed $900 after filing a claim with his financial institution. In the counteroffer, organizers state they will pursue action “because the vendor received full services and made a fraudulent claim for reimbursement.”
In her statement to the Times Union, Stenhouse Eve acknowledged “some points of disagreement” in the negotiation.
“Our goal is to get as close to a resolution as possible. No one, including Wool & Folk, is going to feel completely satisfied,” the statement reads. “Nevertheless, it does not help for persons to make hurtful comments intended to disparage our reputation and curb the success of future events. Some vendors have been malicious, exaggerated the events of that weekend, and seem to take glee in reveling in negative conversations.”
Next steps
As of early March, no reimbursements have been paid to vendors, largely because they have rejected Stenhouse Eve’s final offer. The group is now figuring out its next steps, and they do not rule out pursuing legal action. Some vendors are also going to file an Americans with Disabilities Act complaint about the unsafe conditions of the event, Granger said.
“The amount she’s offering people in exchange for silence is insulting. It doesn’t even come close to compensating for any of the damages,” the anonymous vendor said. “I also don’t think that being silenced is a fair trade because we would be doing a disservice to other people who could be potential victims of Felicia in the future if we’re not able to speak out freely.”
This is not the first time Stenhouse Eve has allegedly failed to meet contractual obligations. In February 2020, her company, Travin Consulting Group, was ordered to pay $13,000 to the state’s Workers Compensation Board for defaulting on payments, and in May 2022, she and her company were ordered to pay Cascade Yarns, a yarn distribution company, $7,149.38 plus interest in a breach of contract lawsuit, according to court documents.
“Wool & Folk could behave like others and rehash every element of that event on social media. We could share emails, receipts, text messages, etc., all in an effort to defend ourselves. As a leader and organizer, however, we have decided to respect our larger community and not make matters worse by engaging in negative commentary or disclosing details of the negotiation,” Stenhouse Eve said in her statement. “We will only say that our goal is to find a resolution, to remain a part of this beloved community, and improve upon our best practices so that future events continue to be successful.”
Stenhouse Eve declined an interview for this story on the advice of her lawyer, choosing to send the written statement instead. Her conduct since the conclusion of the festival has only angered some vendors more.
“It was all very cold and very insulting. To have the audacity to say you want to remain in the community and you want to stop negativity, but you have still never actually apologized or taken any responsibility?” Granger said. “I read the beginning of this email and I’m like, Are you serious? You want us to be nice? You want it all to go away. You want everyone to stop talking about it. But there hasn’t been any acceptance of responsibility.”
“The most frustrating part is, you just feel so little in the sense that there’s really nothing you can do when someone does something like this,” Granger added. “They can just do this event, take your money, and take no responsibility. And there’s really no recourse for you.”
It’s unclear whether the Wool & Folk Festival will be held again this year, or if Stenhouse Eve will continue to be involved in it.