For now, the Holiday Enchanted Village is an empty parking lot, but event planners say it's coming - next year.
By BRADY DENNIS
Published December 10, 2003
TAMPA - The parking lot of Tampa Bay Center was supposed to become a magical place today through Jan. 4. It was supposed to become the Holiday Enchanted Village.
Promoter Al Beronda had promised a Las Vegas ice-skating show, a European-style Cirque act, a Broadway dance production, an extreme sports exhibition, a magic show, a midway with rides and a holiday display with 1-million lights.
Among the nightly musical headliners: Tony Bennett, Kenny G, Michelle Branch, Boyz II Men, Melissa Manchester, George Clinton and others.
None of it will happen.
Instead, the site will remain a rather unenchanted parking lot, dotted with weeds and trash barrels. The only sign of life: a Hartline bus stop behind an abandoned Burdines department store.
But even as the event has fallen apart - as a former employee calls him a fraud, as police investigate the event, as agents and performers stew about not getting paid, as ticket holders are left to make other plans and as Buccaneers officials claim he never had permission to use the Tampa Bay Center - Beronda insists the show will go on. Eventually.
"The event has been postponed. It hasn't been canceled," he said. "It's (now) going to be in the winter of 2004, and we'll leave everybody guessing (about exactly when)."
On Tuesday, Beronda said stories in the St. Petersburg Times highlighting his past troubles had undermined the event.
"You have attacked me personally. You folks have attacked my past, which was many years ago," he said. "I'm honest. I'm not like the St. Pete Times portrays me."
Not everyone agrees.
"We're going to lose a ton of money on this thing," said Will Buford, tour associate for Tour of the Dance, which was supposed to perform at the Enchanted Village. "We're stuck with three weeks of down time we really can't book at this point. We're going to send our entire troupe back to London."
Woody Itsen expressed much the same frustration. He owns the Giant Bicycles Stunt Team, based in Orlando and Southern California.
"(Beronda) was nice to me," Itsen said. "But nice doesn't pay the bills. The bottom line is if you can't leave me a deposit check, then I've got news for you. There's no deal."
Concerns about the Enchanted Village surfaced last month when a former employee, Mauricio Rosas, accused promoter Beronda of fraud and filed a complaint with Tampa police. Beronda said Rosas was disgruntled over being fired.
Meanwhile, records show that Beronda has a lengthy arrest record, that past business ventures have ended in bankruptcy, that he owes nearly $1,200 in unpaid city parking tickets, and that he has spelled his name various ways on public documents.
He has said the past problems with the law are irrelevant, as are his former business dealings. He blamed the variations of his name in records to misinterpretations of his penmanship and misspellings by others.
Tampa police detectives are investigating the Enchanted Village. Asked about the case Tuesday, Detective Bill Todd declined to comment.
Beronda's attorney said Beronda had no "criminal intent" when he planned the festival.
"Concerts get canceled all the time," Mike Benito said. "Something just went south on this. It's just an unfortunate set of circumstances. He is very disappointed that things have come to this."
So is Lynne York of Clearwater. She and her 17-year-old daughter shelled out $85 for "VIP" tickets to see country star Brad Paisley perform. Beronda sent her a money order for the refund, but York and her daughter still feel slighted.
"I feel scammed, but I feel very fortunate that we got our money back," York said. "We banked our money and our whole holiday on this. I will never, ever, ever take a chance like this again."
Beronda vowed Tuesday that thousands of ticket holders have been refunded their money. "I can look in the mirror and at God and know that nobody got screwed," he said. "I think we treated people very good. It would have been a wonderful event."
As for the disgruntled performers, many of them quite famous, he said, "Artists cancel all the time themselves. It's business. If the agents are angry, they'll get over it."
Besides, he said, he's already getting ready for next year's event.
