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Asia Collective Night Market leaves behind angry patrons Saturday, won't be welcomed back to Howard Co.

Viral online posts have prompted refund requests and described patrons' experience with the market as nothing short of chaotic, comparing it to the Fyre Festival.

HOWARD COUNTY, Md. — A viral Reddit post with more than 700 upvotes describes a chaotic experience at a Howard County weekend event, the Asia Collective Night Market. 

Police now say the event won't be welcomed back to the county.

The Saturday event, which took place at the Howard County Fairgrounds, has prompted refund requests as social media users described messy logistics, including waiting in hours-long lines and accusing organizers of running a get-rich-quick scheme with the event; comparing it to the infamous Fyre Festival.

The event was initially advertised as the DMV's ultimate Asian food festival and the biggest on the east coast, where visitors could taste test a variety of cuisines from 40 restaurants for a $10 entry fee for adults.

Howard County Police said in a special event plan obtained by WUSA9 that at least 25,000 attendees were expected. "It is anticipated and expected that traffic congestion in the area will be heavy due to the high volume of arriving vehicles," the document reads amongst a detailed parking plan that addresses auxiliary parking, traffic direction, how to handle backups and more.

A spokesperson for the police department told WUSA9 that, ultimately, the sponsor of the event allowed the attendance to be far over capacity- some with tickets and some without - and that the venue and surrounding roads could not handle the volume.

"The sponsor arranged ineffective parking coordination, which created gridlock in the parking lot and surrounding area," Director of Public Affairs for the Office of the Chief of Police, Sherry Llewellyn, told WUSA9.

"Police did everything possible to handle the traffic, but there were simply too many vehicles for the roadways to handle. This was the first time this event was held in Howard County and due to the poor coordination, we don't expect to allow it to be hosted in our jurisdiction again."

Llewellyn went on to share that, on the day of the event, the organizer was difficult to reach and lacked staffing to adequately meet the needs at any given time.

"The organizer was given many objectives and requirements prior to this event in preparation to include signboards, lighting, adequate parking staff and busses to help assist with transportation which were not met," she said.

On their Instagram page, the market detailed in a post that people coming to the fairground without tickets caused organizers to feel overwhelmed.

"We had difficulty executing parking plans and check-in efficiently," it reads. "We are sincerely sorry to those who were unable to come to our event, due to traffic."

The post goes on to encourage anyone with concerns to email f2entertainment.md@gmail.com. 

WUSA9 has reached out to organizers asking for comment regarding the allegations on social media and has yet to hear back. 

A woman named Sophie Shi who claimed at one point to be a co-founder of the festival appears to no longer have an active Twitter account.

Although comments expressing discontent with the festival have been popular, some did express that they enjoyed the experience. 

"I might be the minority here but we waited in the traffic about an hour and a half to go 2 miles," one Reddit user posted in the thread. "We got in after waiting in line for 5-10 minutes so not too bad. The lines were long but some moved quicker than others. Once the sun went down we actually had a good time. The food was pretty good and like a bunch of the vendors. The older lady making the sugar art was adorable and amazing."

Another Instagram user on the market's post stated that "My family had a great time, we got there 1 hour early (that wasn’t planned) lucky got to enjoy the food vendors and some music with no problem at all."

WUSA9 will update this story with a comment from market organizers if shared.

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