Jeff Wellmeyer, the owner of the Hodges Bay Club, is apologizing for the late fireworks at his resort on Tuesday night, October 13.
The hotel was hosting a surprise 40th birthday party for American superstar Ashanti, he says.
In a missive circulated by social media last night, Wellmeyer says he is sorry for waking up those persons who live adjacent to the resort, adding that he, himself, “did not appreciate the noise level that would be a part of the fireworks and certainly did not expect them to go off that late.”
Wellmeyer says the fireworks display was set to be discharged between 10 and 10:30 p.m., but was pushed back until about 1 a.m. when the Grammy Award-winning artiste entered the room. He says also that there was a host of delays and special precautions, as well.
The hotel owner, who says he was contacted late last week by Ashanti’s agent to host the event, described it as very special and an occasion in which Antigua and Barbuda will receive full exposure, since “some of the biggest names in music, along with a number of famous guests visited the island for the first time, in addition to a ‘Virtual Party,’ which was filmed for MTV.”
Wellmeyer claims that an environment was created to coincide with the respective social distancing protocols which the Government has put in place. He says more on the event will be publicized in the local newspapers, and assures that this was a one-time occurrence.
