A ‘scam’ or just ‘haters’ venting? A Boise taco festival is back. Here’s what we know
This year’s Taco & Margarita Festival in Garden City promises tacos, margaritas, wrestling and a Jimmy Buffett tribute band. A Facebook post from about a month ago lists more than a dozen vendors.
But that same post features comments calling the event a “sham” — other posts have even stronger comments — and underwhelming festivals across the nation from the same organizer have left many skeptical.
The event is scheduled for Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. at Revolution Concert House and Event Center, with United Festival Productions hosting.
Festival-goers can buy three levels of tickets. Standard admission costs $15, while VIP admission costs $45 and includes early admission at 11 a.m., two margaritas and a T-shirt. The VIP Parrothead package costs $75 and includes a T-shirt, two tacos, two margaritas and access to the VIP balcony, with private entrance and private bar for the concert.
The festival may seem like a surefire crowd-pleaser, but some are worried it won’t live up to the hype. And that’s all because of one name: Adam Dobres.
Dobres, the CEO of United Festival Productions, has drawn backlash over other festivals across the country. One of those was last September’s Taco & Margarita Festival in Idaho.
Boise festival drew complaints in 2021
Last September, a different Dobres-led company hosted a taco festival at the same venue.
AZ Food Festivals, which became the subject of multiple investigative stories, was behind the festival that Reddit users called a “scam.” The archived thread from last September includes screenshots of now-deleted Facebook comments about the event. These comments said there was only one taco vendor at the event, and that vendor ran out of meat.
Tyler Scott, who attended last year’s festival, said that it did not deliver on the promise of gourmet local tacos and that the margaritas were premixed from a bottle and served in small plastic cups.
Scott told the Idaho Statesman that he and his friend waited for an hour to get their food, and when it never came, they were denied a refund.
“We came back to ask for a refund, and they said they couldn’t do a refund because so many people had already been before us getting refunds that they were out of money,” Scott said in a phone interview.
The vendor was unable to grant refunds on the credit card reader, and after the cash register was empty, that was it, Scott said.
After his negative experience last year, Scott said he encourages Boise residents to skip this year’s festival.
“Absolutely do not go,” he said.
Creston Thornton, the owner of Revolution Concert House, said the venue is working to “step it up from last year,” though he said he considered the festival a success overall. He said there will be more food and drink options this year, including 14 margarita wells.
He added that he expects crowd sizes to be on par with last year’s numbers: around 1,400 people.
Festivals in Nashville, other cities disappoint
Other cities have hosted taco festivals through United Festival Productions and other Dobres-connected groups that were called flops. Attendees in Nashville made complaints of poor-quality tacos and a lack of vendors at an event last month.
Ashley Turner was among the disappointed customers at the festival at Nissan Stadium on June 18. After buying VIP passes for her and her family, Turner told the Statesman in a phone interview that she was disappointed by the food and drink options.
“My husband had a fish taco, which had just hardly any meat and had a whole bunch of tartar sauce. He took a couple bites and tossed it, and they just weren’t good. They were cold,” Turner said. “We stayed for probably 30 minutes, and then we left.”
Turner, a stay-at-home mom from Dixon, Tennessee, created a Facebook group called Adam Dobres & United Festival Productions - Taco & Margarita Fest Scam. The group features posts from disgruntled festival-goers across the country. Posts encourage group members to comment on posts advertising the festivals warning people not to attend.
“My whole goal of creating that group is just to make people aware,” Turner said. “He needs to be stopped because he is making a living off of it. It’s misleading at best.”
Oklahoma City; Redmond, Oregon; and Madison, Wisconsin were among the cities that ran into problems with Dobres’ events last year. The Oklahoma City and Madison events were canceled amid complaints about other festivals, and the Redmond event was postponed until August 2022.
The Oklahoma City taco festival was to be hosted by Kick’n Dirt Entertainment, which has ties to Dobres. The Madison and Redmond festivals were to be hosted by AZ Food Festivals.
Dobres says he’s not to blame for festival problems
Dobres told the Statesman that the venues are in charge of food and drinks, and any problems that arise are their responsibility. He said he is responsible for marketing, retail, some vendors and entertainment.
Thornton said his venue will organize the drinks and VIP catering for Saturday’s festival. He said that VIP catering will come from Barrelhouse Pub and Grill and that the venue is planning to expand margarita offerings this year.
United Festival Productions is coordinating the food trucks for the event, Thornton said, and he said at least 10 are expected.
Thornton said he believes some of the backlash of events with ties to Dobres, including last year’s here, comes from “haters” and competitors. Dobres said complaints about large events are not unique to his business.
The Statesman reported ahead of last year’s event on the troubles surrounding Dobres’ festivals in 2021, and Thornton said then, “We’re making sure with the promoter that the food’s dialed in.”
Last year’s tacos and margaritas seemed to leave a bad taste in many Boise residents’ mouths, though. Scott said he was surprised the festival is returning at all.
“The majority of people were visibly upset. They were complaining about the food. Nobody was happy,” he said. “How are they able to put another one on and fool everybody by selling more tickets? It’s crazy to me.”
