Eric Deters had scheduled the Patriot’s Day Freedom Fest for Saturday, Sept. 26, at his Morning View farm. He canceled the MAGA-aligned event after finding out only six VIP tickets had been sold.
The cancellation was shared in a Facebook video that has since been deleted, Entertainment Weekly and Newsweek reported. Deters, a 2023 Republican gubernatorial candidate, had previously called the festival “the best MAGA event,” Entertainment Weekly reported.
According to PEOPLE, the billed guests included Kid Rock, Duane Chapman, also known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, and Fox News personality Joe Concha. A Kid Rock representative told Entertainment Weekly that the musician was added five days before the cancellation, was booked only to speak, was not performing, and has no other ties to the event.
Deters said $1,000 VIP tickets from people he knows were supposed to pay the bills
He said his plan was to cover the cost with $1,000 VIP tickets from about a hundred people he deals with regularly who have money. “When I put together Patriot State Freedom Fest, I put it together with the game plan and the idea that I could pay for it with the VIP sales of $1,000 from these hundred people that I interact with on a regular basis that have money,” Deters said.
Recounting the sales check, he said, “I said, ‘How many have bought a ticket?’ And he said, ‘You can’t make this up.’ Are you ready for the drumroll?” He then said, “Only six people had bought a VIP ticket.”
General admission was free. It was not clear how many of those tickets had been claimed. Deters said people with money who ask him for favors all day long had not stepped up. “Out of all these people that have money that I interact with, who I do favors for all day long,” he said. “They ask me for something; I never say no. I never said no to these people.”
He also said, “None of these people will ever, ever, ever get a favor from me again, ever.” He said he would “never ever, ever, ever, ever [do] this event again.” The frustration over unmet expectations among supporters is not unique to this event, as seen when a Texas bakery upset a MAGA crowd, leading to angry calls.
In a later Facebook video about 15 minutes long, Deters said other “financial obligations” stopped him from writing the check himself “like I’ve done in the past.” He said the cancellation had “absolutely nothing to do” with Kid Rock and added, “Kid Rock’s a good dude. I’m tickled to death he agreed to come.”
The lineup was also slated to include Rep. James Comer (R-KY), Republican congressional candidate Ed Gallrein, and boxing manager Jackie Kallen. Deters said MAGA supporters always support the event and always turn out, and that calling it a failed event for lack of support was inaccurate.
“I cancelled the event. It saved me from picking up a pretty god d–n large tab that I was going to pick up, that I didn’t want to frickin’ pick up,” he said. “It’s a business call! Plain and simple.” He said he was not harmed by the decision at all, then added, referring to commenters on news stories and social media, “But I’m going to sue some people.”
The event’s cancellation highlights the challenges of organizing such gatherings, as seen when a different MAGA leader offered minorities a one-way ticket to leave the country.
Published: Sep 23, 2026 06:30 am