SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) — Across the North Bay, health and wellness experts say they feel sickened by the unfairness of a fitness festival scheduled for this weekend in Santa Rosa. NorCal Fit Fest was meant to be a chance for small business owners to showcase their wares and talents, but attendees feel cheated. They say organizers took attendees’ money and disappeared.
“You know what? This is happening right now,” Cassandra Hample said.
Performance artist Cassandra Hample describes the moment she realized the massive fitness expo planned for Santa Rosa probably wasn’t real.
“It’s really unfortunate that the main producer is out of the loop on communication,” Hample said.
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NorCal Fit Fest is set to take place at the Veterans Memorial Building on May 25th and is being billed as “a magical Saturday packed with fitness, dance and wellness adventures.”
“People have invested their time and money,” Tristan St. Germain said.
Sonoma County health and wellness professionals like Tristan St. Germain were contacted through social media in January by a man named John who asked if they would like to set up a booth at the festival, paying $90 to $120 through a PayPal account.
“He said he’s a philanthropist, he’s retired and he was helping his friends Emily and Jess and this was their event,” Saint said.
Tristan said the event had a website and Instagram posts and seemed real, but when he met with John last month to sign the contract and secure the event space…
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“He never showed up, never met us, never signed any contracts, never paid his friends for their work,” St. Germain added.
“When I spoke to him on the phone, he said he doesn’t take credit cards and that he’ll bring $100 bills when he meets us,” said Colleen Teitgen, aka DJ Diop.
“That’s when I realized this was a scam,” Hample added.
“There were red flags from the beginning,” Zach Darling said.
The worst part, the group says, is that Jon added a dance party event after learning Tristan’s son, Kainoa, had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, with $25 from each ticket sale going toward his medical expenses. Tristan believes this was also a scam.
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“I feel deceived and I don’t understand how people can be so callous, heartless and cruel. I feel he took advantage of my vulnerability at the worst time of my life,” St. Germain said.
ABC7 News has attempted to reach John multiple times through voicemail, texts and messages but has not yet heard back.
Police are currently investigating and it can be confirmed that FitFest is not going ahead.
“We encourage anyone who purchased tickets or booths with a credit card to call their credit card company,” said Sergeant Patricia Sefens with the Santa Rosa Police Department.
The sellers say they’re moving on. They hope to serve as a warning to others. Tristan has set up a GoFundMe page for her son, which she says is definitely real.
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