CADDO COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR) – A Quinceañera is supposed to be a huge celebration with Hispanic traditions, family, and lots of dancing – but for one Anadarko 15-year-old, it left her feeling embarrassed as her family says they were kicked off the event property without a full refund nor an explanation.
Since Isabel Castro’s first birthday, her family has been planning for her Quinceañera.
“You only turn 15 once and it was a big day for me. I was excited,” said Castro.
Her older sister, Angel Rolon-Medina said they checked out Redbud Ranch back in July, then signed a contract in September for the party to happen the weekend of December 4.
Rolon-Medina said with food, the venue, and outside vendors, the family spent $25,000 for this party “just to have it ruined.”
The family was asked to leave halfway through the celebration.
The Owner of Redbud Ranch, Hailey Garrison told News 4, “Things got completely out of hand. Guests were using marijuana in the building. But the thing that really alarmed us was the occupancy limit. There were way too many people in the building.”
Rolon-Medina said she believes their family was stereotyped based on the false allegations of marijuana usage.
She claims no one other than the owners could allegedly smell it.
According to the contract, no more than 250 people were allowed inside the venue.
Rolon-Medina said they rented 250 chairs for their guests, but that there were a multitude of empty seats, so it leads her to believe they had less than 250.
“No head count was done,” added Rolon-Medina.
Garrison said because of these two issues, everyone came into agreement to have everyone leave.
However, Rolon-Medina said there was no agreement, that they were instead threatened with law enforcement.
“The client made the announcement about the party ending over the PA system, and the crowd became unruly and aggressive making threats directly to me. At that point, I was scared for my safety,” explained Garrison.
Garrison also declined an on-camera interview for fear of physical safety.
“On Sunday morning [Dec. 4], I discovered numerous threats to me personally on social media. I called the police and made the difficult decision to cancel the Sunday night event and ask the clients to vacate the premises. None of these decisions had anything to do with race,” said Garrison.
Although the contract states if a party is asked to leave, Redbud Ranch is not obligated to refund any money or reschedule the event, Garrison confirmed with KFOR they did refund the family $900.
News 4 asked Garrison if more money would be refunded in the future, but she said $900 was the agreed upon amount.
Rolon-Medina told KFOR $900 is just a drop in the bucket though compared to the thousands they paid and should be owed.
The family also said they rented five on-site cabins for guests to stay in, but Redbud Ranch was only able to accommodate them with three the night of their event.
“These decisions were made because I didn’t feel it was safe to move forward when there had been so many threats to me and my staff over the previous 24 hours. In hindsight, I wish that I had been able to work out a compromise with the clients and will strive to do that in the future. I want to apologize for the misunderstandings and the way things had to end,” said Garrison.
Castro said she’d prefer to have a do over of her party, but said a “sincere apology” would be suffice.
She explained she’s embarrassed because now she’s known as the girl who had her party shut down in front of everyone.
The family is now considering legal action.
Rolon-Medina told KFOR they’ve been in communication with lawyers.
According to the Oklahoma Secretary of State’s website as of Wednesday evening, ‘Red Bud Ranch’ and ‘Red Bud Ranch and Wedding Venue LLC’ are listed, but their licenses are “inactive.”
News 4 reached back out to Garrison on social media to inquire about their license and asked if they were listed under different name instead.
The message shows it was read, but we haven’t heard back.