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HAFAD PRESS RELEASE

The dream lives on....

August 31, 2002, was projected to be the birthday of HAFAD, the annual Haitian Family Day picnic. After months of planning and intense advertising to reach Haitians from all over the world, the event that was projected to the greatest nationalistic reunion of Haitians from all social classes and generations was not to be.

We want to take this moment to extend our sincere apologies, explain to all the circumstances behind the cancellation by the owners of the park, and our plans for the future since we Haitians do not accept defeat, and in the face of defeat we rise to even bigger and greater things.

We extend our sincere apologies to the 10,000 to 15,000 people who converged on Belmont park throughout the day only to find the gates of the park closed, while hundreds of cars and thousands of people lined up the street with high expectation that the event will take place. Again we apologize to all Haitians that an event that was so well planned and awaited with such anticipation did not take place due to circumstances beyond our control in the final hours.

Here is our explanation:

On March 23, 2002, we received a letter from NYRA (New York Racing Association) that the Belmont park facility has been reserved for RockMasters Entertainment for the purpose of holding the "Haitian Family Day" (HAFAD) on August 31, 2002, pending receipt of a $3,000 retainer. On early April, the check for $3,000 was mailed to NYRA, securing the date for the event. At this point we started our promotion campaign trying to reach Haitians from all 4 corners of the globe.

Within a couple of weeks, we started calling NYRA requesting they send us the terms of the contract for review and signing. Each time we called, we were told that their lawyers were busy in litigation and would send it the following week. Well, weeks, then months went by and we still could not get our hands on the contract.

We then went ahead and secured liability insurance using the terms of prior contracts with NYRA as examples. After continuously chasing them for the contract, we finally got the draft just 1 week prior to the event. After intense negotiations on the payment terms and other items, we got an appointment for late, August 29, just 2 days before the event, to sign the contract. At this time we were informed that one of the liability insurance requirement ($1,000,000 automobile liability) was not met by our insurance policy and that we had to correct it. The next morning we went to our broker who informed us that the insurance companies she deals with no longer provide this type of coverage. After hours of research and negotiations between NYRA and our broker the issue could not be resolved. Finally we were put in touch with an NYRA broker to work with us and our broker on the issue as it was getting late and all insurance companies were getting ready to clos! e for the holiday weekend.

Finally we got an offer from the NYRA broker to settle the issue. If we could come up with $15,000 in premium, he can have an underwriter provide us the required coverage. At this point we were willing to spend anything, even use our personal properties as collateral to guarantee that the event takes place. Keeping our promise to the Haitian people at any cost was the only thing that counted. Late on Friday, we told the NYRA lawyer that we had secured the fund. We were told that we would be contacted on early Saturday morning for instructions on how to proceed. At this point we figured that the issue was set and the show will go on.

Early Saturday morning, we headed for the park and started to contact NYRA but could not get in touch with anyone. We left messages and got no response. We talked to the security personnel who told us that they were instructed to cancel the event. Hours went by and no contact could be made with anyone in the office, which indicated to us that they no longer wished to pursue the last option.

With the crowd growing by the hour into thousands of disappointed but proud Haitians, we finally had no choice but to call the event officially canceled sometimes around noon.

It was a very emotional moment for everyone as a day with such high expectations ended with such disappointment. It was reported that until 6:30PM there were still people hanging around the park.

Haitians did come from all over the world as we had asked them to do. They responded to our calls for unity beyond our expectations. There were tour buses from Boston, Philadelphia, Canada, Upstate, NY, and vans from all areas of the US. People had flown from Haiti, Europe, Miami, etc.

Where do we go from here?

The answer is simple "HAFAD2003". As our friend F. Cherry reminds us of John F. Kennedy's words "A man may die, nations rise and fall, but an idea lives on," and our dream will live on. We may have lost one fight, but we will win the war. We have been getting many words of support and encouragement, and we thank those who sent us hundreds of e-mails complementing us for the initiative, the work we've done and encouraging us rebound and give them HAFAD2003.

Even though we feel that the NYRA could have been more corporative, We do accept some blame in the outcome, as in hindsight there are things we could have done differently and will do differently the next time. One is, hiring a lawyer to handle the contract process. He would have been more successful in getting the contract earlier from the NYRA's lawyer, and most likely would have seen the flaw in our policy.

A special thank you and recognition to all the vendors, sponsors, artists and performers who gave their time, commitment, and incurred expenses to participate and support the program.

TICKETS REFUND:

All advanced purchase tickets will be refunded in full. Please go to the location or the person who sold it to you. If you are from out of state or do not know who sold you the ticket, you can hold it for next year. All non refunded tickets will be valid for HAFAD2003.

VENDORS:

All vendors will hear from us within a week. If you wish, you may contact the person you drew up the contract with for refund or credit of your permit fee.

We thank you for your enthusiasm and support. WE PROMISE YOU THAT HAFAD2003 WILL BE EVEN BIGGER, AND BETTER AND THIS TIME, THERE WILL BE NO MISTAKE, NO CANCELLATION.

We want to end by extending our apologies for a third time and look forward for "HAFAD2003, the proof of resilience and solidarity."

The one last thing we will ask you to do for us is to forward this e-mail to every Haitian that you know and specially to anyone who made the trip to HAFAD2002. Please DO.

******* THE DREAM LIVES ON *******

Sincerely,

Jean Claude Elie

RockMasters Entertainment

For the HAFAD Picnic committee