KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Organizers at one local holiday pop-up event say they ran into all kinds of problems.

Many contract employees from Jingle! tell FOX4 News they haven’t been paid for their work. Some of them say they’re due tens of thousands of dollars. Jingle! organizers explain there are reasons their bills aren’t paid.

Employees for two of Jingle’s three locations in St. Louis, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas are angry that they haven’t been paid for their work. That includes performers and techs who say they were promised paychecks, but they haven’t been paid a dime.

Jingle! organizers rented KCK’s Legends Field for a month-and-a-half. Their holiday festivities include music, holiday lights and fun. Four Jingle! employees have complained to FOX4 News they’re still due full payment.

Joe and Nikol Straws, two popular DJs from Wyandotte County, said they performed at the KCK event and provided stages for the performances in St. Louis and KCK. Joe Straws said Jingle! owes the couple $18,600.  Straws said Jingle! organizers first told him they were working to pay the bills, but since then, responses to his messages have gone silent.
“We’re trying to procure some resources. We’re trying to get some money, which leads me to believe you don’t have the money to pay people now,” Joe Straws said, recalling his conversations with Jingle! leadership.

“We’re talking about people who are working and living check-to-check and gig-to-gig. This is an individual who clearly lives a lot more comfortable life,” Nikol Straws added.

Jingle! also operated a location in Ozark, Missouri, near the Springfield area. There are no known cases of employees being unpaid at that location.

Jingle! organizers sent a statement to FOX4 News on Tuesday afternoon, saying they’ve faced financial challenged they didn’t forsee, but they’re trying to pay employees.

The statement said Jingle’s ice skating pond, which is said to be the event’s biggest attraction, arrived three weeks late. The company blames that on a labor strike at an East Coast shipping port.

The statement also said the company responsible for handle Jingle’s! profits from ticket sales redirected those funds without warning, making it hard for the company to pay its bills and payroll. That’s why it’s calling in the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate what happened.
The Kansas City Monarchs Baseball Club is the primary tenant at Legends Field, but the baseball team doesn’t operate the holiday event. In fact, the Monarchs are still awaiting rent payments from Jingle! As of Tuesday, signs for the holiday event are still on the stadium.

“We’re wanting to figure out how they’re going to get this resolved. We’re hopeful, and we’re planning to get this resolved soon,” Carter Woodiel, Monarchs spokesperson and broadcaster, said on Tuesday morning.

Former Kansas City Monarchs General Manager Mark McKee now works for the company that runs Jingle! McKee left the baseball team in January, according to Woodiel.

FOX4 News reached out to McKee six times on Tuesday, but our messages weren’t answered.