Unhappy campers: 'Francis Fields' lawsuit filed
Not all of those involved in Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia this fall are basking in the afterglow. A subcontractor hired to erect a multi-acre campground in Fairmount Park - a plan canceled almost as soon as it was publicly released - is suing for breach of contract and $117,000 he says he lost.
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Not all of those involved in Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia this fall are basking in the afterglow.
A subcontractor hired to erect a multi-acre campground in Fairmount Park - a plan canceled almost as soon as it was publicly released - is suing for breach of contract and $117,000 he says he lost.
Endless Summer Productions L.L.C., a Delaware-based company that has set up campgrounds for music festivals such as Bonnaroo in Tennessee, filed a federal lawsuit this week in Philadelphia against Scott Mirkin and his company, ESM Productions, which produced the papal events on the Parkway on the weekend of Sept. 26 and 27.
"Francis Fields," as the never-realized campground was called, was to have restrooms, showers, food and beverage vendors, grills, charging stations, and a general store. It was to be capable of accommodating 16,000 people for $199 per camper - with additional costs for tents, cars, and RVs ranging from $99 to $999.
Carl Monzo III, owner of Endless Summer, said vendors were lined up and everything was ready to go until ESM pulled the plug Sept. 10.
"It's been incredibly frustrating. Ninety percent of any good event is done in advance, and we did that," Monzo said. "We're not a big business by any means. I'm taking out a loan this week just to make sure people are taken care of."
ESM did not respond to requests for comment. The World Meeting of Families, which hired ESM to produce the papal events, declined to comment. The World Meeting is not listed as a defendant in the suit.
Monzo says he was making preparations behind the scenes, but there was little publicity for the campground until two weeks before the papal visit, when information was posted at the bottom of the World Meeting's "places to stay" Web page.
This was during the same period when hotels in Center City were clamoring to fill a higher-than-expected number of vacancies.
ESM said in a statement at that time that the decision to cancel the campground was due to lack of interest and the fact that "plenty of accommodations" were still available in Philadelphia.
Ed Grose, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, later said that had the campground plan gone through, he and others would have fought it.
The complaint claims that Endless Summer started negotiating with Mirkin as early as April 2015 and signed a contract Sept. 1, only to have it terminated 10 days later, pursuant to a clause that permitted ESM to cancel the campground if advance sales weren't meeting expectations. The clause also required that Endless Summer be paid for costs incurred, the lawsuit says.
Monzo said ESM did nothing to promote the campground and was highly influential in setting its prices so high, something he thinks contributed to the lack of interest.
"What we thought was a decent thing to do for the pope's visit was a cash grab," Monzo said.
He is seeking $40,000 owed in production fees, $51,800 in staffing fees, and additional costs for the website, legal expenses, mapping, travel, and other unpaid vendors.
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@juliaterruso