EUREKA, Mo. — An event promising to light up the night has one local business owner concerned his customers could be getting scammed.
Things are quiet at Brookdale Farms ahead of their fall schedule that’s packed full of fun.
"This is our big prep week this week to get everything opened up for the pumpkins, the corn maze, and all of those things,” said owner Jerry Kirk. “Now's a really busy time of year for us."
Brookdale Farms owner Jerry Kirk said lately they’re receiving more than a few phone calls that are raising some eyebrows.
"We got calls from somebody asking about the lantern festival event that we're not having,” said Kirk.
Brookdale has contracted out Lantern Fest in the past, but that stopped after the company folded in 2019, leading to a lawsuit that’s still pending.
"We've had no contact with the Lantern Festival,” said Kirk. “As far as we know there is no Lantern Festival anymore."
That’s why Kirk says he was shocked to find a website promising VIP experiences at his farm.
"Some of the tickets are big prices,” said Kirk. “You can spend $600-$700 on this website and find out you have nothing. It's terrible."
KSDK tried to reach out to the organizer, but the email address listed on the page is a dead end, and the website isn’t registered with any search engines.
"As soon as we saw it we knew it was probably a scam,” said Kirk.
That’s why Kirk is sounding the alarm for his customers.
"We don't want anybody to get taken advantage of,” said Kirk.
He’s now concerned the scammers might force people into staying away from his farm.
"Come out for the pumpkins, and the hayrides, the corn maze, and all of that stuff,” said Kirk. “We have our big rodeo September 11th. We would love people to buy tickets for that. Those are legitimate events, and we're going to have a lot of fun."
If you paid for tickets to the Lantern Festival using a credit card you can report it as fraud and get your money back.
You're also being encouraged to contact the local authorities.