08/21/2025
🌟 Dear Public, 🌟
Questions answered regarding NESA & The Fort 4 Festival
🛑 Why the Fort 4 Festival Was Canceled: A Commentary on Greed & Glory
The event was canceled because a contract presented to our nonprofit by another party was not just unfavorable—it was outrageous, greedy, and legally indefensible. It was a blatant attempt to exploit a 501(c)(3) organization, strip it of control, and funnel power and profit to a private for-profit entity. Here's what made it so damaging:
🔒 Total Control Over the Nonprofit
The vendor demanded exclusive authority over all decisions, communications, and event ex*****on. The nonprofit would have been **barred from speaking to its own partners or managing its own contracts** without the vendor’s permission—an unacceptable surrender of autonomy.
💰 Financial Exploitation
The vendor required a fixed fee, uncapped expenses, and 5% of ticket sales—even from other unrelated games on August 16th and 17th. This was a blatant overreach, attempting to monetize events the vendor had no role in.
🎥 Media Ownership & Commercialization
All media—photos, videos, recordings—would be owned and commercially exploited by the vendor. The nonprofit was forced to obtain releases from participants for this use, putting it in a legally and ethically impossible position.
⚖️ Unlimited Liability
The nonprofit would have had to indemnify the vendor for nearly everything, including the vendor’s own negligence. Meanwhile, the vendor disclaimed all warranties and capped its own liability to a fraction of what the nonprofit might pay.
🤐 Silencing & Restriction
The contract included non-disparagement and non-solicitation clauses, threatening legal action if the nonprofit spoke out or worked with anyone involved after the event. This is **controlling, punitive, and incompatible with transparency.**
⚠️ Summary
This was not a partnership—it was a diabolical power grab The contract was designed to extract money, control, and media rights from a nonprofit while leaving it legally exposed and voiceless.
🛑 Greed
The Fort canceled our event—not because we backed out, but because we refused to sign a contract that was outrageous, exploitative, and incompatible with the legal and ethical standards of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. They claimed that without that vendor, “there is no alliance.” But what they offered was not partnership—it was a power grab.
This is the same Fort that originally demanded $20,000 for 2025 for a one-day rental of the Fort, which we negotiated down to $12,000—for zero services. After booking bands, vendors, and staff, our Society was left holding the financial bag (again), paying cancellation fees and absorbing losses for 2025 on an event we did not even have. The Society had already invested over $37,000 the year before to build the event and lost $16,000—a normal cost when launching something new. We were committed. But Greed and Glory shut it down.
And then they had the nerve to claim we canceled it or “the event was not up to THEIR standards (The Fort)” (because we would not sign the contract from the other party).
We know what’s being said behind closed doors. We know the plans. And we know who’s working together—because people talk. We warned them: "you can’t just throw together a Highland Games and expect crowds." Even the biggest events know that elite athletes alone don’t draw numbers—you need a festival. We may look humble, but we know more than you think.
The Fort threw away something that could have supported them every year and gave something special to their community—for what? Smooth talk and self-promotion? You need financial backing, not ego.
Let’s be clear: you don’t run anything unless you pay for it and manage it yourself. You don’t need a nonprofit to exploit. You need integrity, collaboration, and respect. None of that was present here.
This was meant to honor the athletes and fulfill a president’s dream. It was ruined by greed and that is unforgivable.
📖 Closing One Chapter, Opening Another
We wanted to share with our community why the Fort 4 Festival was canceled. The truth is simple: we did not cancel it—the Fort did, after we refused to sign a contract that would have compromised our nonprofit’s integrity, finances, and independence. We were asked to turn over control of our Society to an individual who had already benefited from our financial support for 3 years, including a generous payment and backing that allowed them to do things they could not have done alone.
We were committed. We invested deeply—financially and emotionally—to build something meaningful for the athletes and the community. But when the values of heritage, sport, and service were replaced by self-promotion and greed, we had no choice but to accept them canceling us.
Should the opportunity arise again—with people who put culture, heritage & sport, and athletes first, not their pocketbooks—we will be there. But it won’t be at the Fort. That chapter is closed.
We are grateful to be moving forward, free from the grief, personal attacks, divisive behavior, and even theft—yes, theft—from our Games trailer, totaling over $10,000k in stolen goods. Twice, police caught the individuals setting up with our property under a new name. More was found in a home raid. These are facts, not drama.
Despite it all, our Society has survived, united, and thrived. We pulled off a record-breaking year, expanded to a second day at a new venue, and proved what happens when the wrong people are no longer in the room. Our members and volunteers made it happen. We did it together.
💪 We are proud.
💙 We are strong.
🙏 We are blessed.
“Here’s to the next chapter—built on integrity, unity, and love for the sport, heritage & Culture”
With gratitude,
James Rodden
President
Saint Andrews Society of Maine
Shari Rodden
Events Director
Maine Highland Games & Scottish Festival
