Vendors claim false ticket sales at Vancouver Outdoor Expo, Clark Co. Sheriff’s Office investigates

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office has opened up an investigation into what happened at Vancouver’s Outdoor Expo at the end of March.

According to vendors, they were told more than 30,000 tickets had been sold for the event and paid anywhere from $500-$2,800 for a spot. But by that Friday, vendors told KATU News they noticed something was wrong when few people were walking the isles.

“Our investigation is going to focus on if there was any type of criminal activity that took place there,” Sgt. Chris Skidmore with CCSO said during a press conference on Wednesday. “What we’re going to do is we’re going to find a couple examples from the groups that we’ve contacted and see if those will meet the criteria for the PA’s office," he said, noting that the case will be sent over to the District Attorney’s Office.

According to Skidmore, the sheriff’s office also had a booth at the outdoor expo for recruiting efforts and says they paid $500 for their booth. Deputies at the expo did make contact with the event organizer, Shane Barbour, but haven’t been in touch with him further, according to Skidmore.

Vendors tell KATU News Barbour had promised them more than 30,000 tickets had been sold and “bus loads” of people being dropped off during the event, but they never saw that. “Talking to one of the facility managers that was on duty there, they estimated probably over the Friday and Saturday that the most and very generous is what they said would be 2,000 people,” Skidmore said of the tally from the weekend.

READ MORE: https://katu.com/news/local/vendors-claim-false-ticket-sales-at-vancouvers-outdoor-expo-investigation-underway
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Author: KATU News
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News post in at: April 10, 2025, 3:00 am.

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