A food vendor who operated at Olivia Rodrigo's inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival has publicly accused the event's organizers of failing to pay for her sales and subjecting her business to a series of logistical failures that she says cost her thousands of dollars. Mary Chacon, owner of Ugly Oats Kitchen, shared an open letter to the singer on Instagram, saying she had not been paid for her sales in violation of her contract.
Chacon said she reached out to Rodrigo and her team two days after the festival, which took place at the end of August at Great Park in Irvine, California. She wrote that she had been hesitant to speak publicly out of fear of damaging her company's reputation, but decided to come forward in the hope of getting a response. In the letter, she thanked Rodrigo for organizing what she called a safe and historic event, and said it was a privilege to be involved, noting that the singer's music had helped her through difficult times.
Despite that praise, Chacon claimed that some of the $20 million raised for women's causes at the festival felt like it was done at the expense of some of the women vendors. She described being asked to participate and told that vendors would be fined if they ran out of food, prompting her to make thousands of cookies and shut down her bakery to prepare. She said the company was then told it would have to pay about $1,400 in fees and forfeit 35 percent of its sales to the festival, which cost them several thousand dollars.
Chacon also detailed what she described as poor management, including being informed about major purchases at the last minute and not receiving setup information until a few hours before arrival, which made it difficult to get on-site. At the event, she said, they saw few customers and heard from concertgoers that they were unaware food was available in that section of the festival site. She claimed the organizers booked too many dessert vendors and not enough meal vendors, setting vendors and attendees up for a difficult day.
Her staff, she added, were not told where they could get food and drinks, and the conditions led to a team member suffering heat exhaustion and being unable to find real food after she started vomiting. Chacon called it the most miserable day her staff and Ugly Oats had experienced, and said it would take months for the business to recoup the losses from the single event. She said she still considered it a privilege to be invited but hoped to raise awareness for the experience of women entrepreneurs on the ground ahead of a potential 2027 edition.
Daisy Chain Fields was inspired by the Lilith Fair festivals of the 1990s and featured performances from Chappell Roan, Bikini Kill, Doechii, Garbage and others. Before the event, Rodrigo announced it would donate $10 million to its nonprofit partners, and during the festival more money was raised for organizations supporting women and girls, including Baby2Baby, Black Mamas Matter Alliance, the Center for Reproductive Rights, FreeFrom, the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, the National Women's Law Center and Planned Parenthood. Melinda French Gates later matched the original total, bringing the amount raised to $20 million.
During Rodrigo's headline set, she was joined by Stevie Nicks, Alanis Morissette and Sarah McLachlan for performances of «Landslide», «Ironic», «Building a Mystery» and «Angel». The festival received a four-and-a-half star review and was celebrated as a beautiful, empowering triumph. Since the event, Rodrigo has launched her Unraveled world tour in Connecticut, performing songs from her third album, «You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love».
Representatives for Daisy Chain Fields and Olivia Rodrigo have been contacted for comment regarding Chacon's claims. The allegations have not been independently verified, and no response from the festival's organizers has been made public.