{"id":423848,"date":"2026-01-19T19:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T19:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/423848\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T19:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T19:30:12","slug":"the-rec-waroona-venue-forced-to-issue-public-apology-after-family-fun-day-leaves-families-disappointed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/423848\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rec Waroona: Venue forced to issue public apology after family fun day leaves families disappointed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A WA venue has been forced to issue a public apology after an advertised weekend event left local families disappointed.<\/p>\n

The Rec in Waroona had advertised a family fun day for Sunday, encouraging members of the South West community to celebrate the opening of the venue\u2019s new playground.<\/p>\n

Social media posts promoting the event also stated mini golf, face painting, a kid\u2019s raffle, and a sausage sizzle would be on offer for families.<\/p>\n

When attendees arrived for the event, however, they were left disappointed over issues with table bookings and a lack of the advertised activities.<\/p>\n

One comment left on a Facebook post advertising the event said staff had \u201cno idea about the raffle\u201d, while another attendee said \u201cnothing was happening at all\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another attendee anonymously told PerthNow the swing set on the new playground was \u201cunsafe with bolts not secured\u201d, resulting in staff closing off access to the playland an hour and a half after the event began.<\/p>\n

\"AnCamera IconAn advertisement for the event on social media promised a range of activities for attendees. Credit: The Rec Waroona<\/p>\n

The venue was quick to address the negative feedback, releasing a statement on Sunday afternoon admitting they \u201cmissed the mark\u201d with the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are writing this to unreservedly apologise for the execution of today\u2019s Family Fun Day,\u201d the venue wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe promised a great day celebrating the playground opening with face painting, mini golf, a sausage sizzle, and a kids raffle \u2014 instead, we completely missed the mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know many of you experienced significant issues, from booking locations being messed up to our staff having absolutely no knowledge of the advertised activities, such as the raffle.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to sudden and unforeseen operational circumstances beyond our control that occurred just prior to this weekend, the event was not conducted nor expedited properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease know that we are currently undergoing immediate internal restructuring to ensure this level of disorganisation does not happen again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply sorry for letting down the families who came out today expecting a fun afternoon \u2014 we are committed to making it right and earning back your trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some were quick to praise the venue for the honesty and accountability shown in their post.<\/p>\n

\u2018This is why local pubs stay open,\u201d one local praised, while another wrote: \u201cGood on you for acknowledging the problem!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday might\u2019ve been a rough one, but it\u2019s not the story people will remember \u2014 they\u2019ll remember the way you responded, the way you backed your staff, and the way you moved quickly to make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again,\u201d another Waroona resident wrote.<\/p>\n

Some attendees, however, were still left disappointed by the lack of communication surrounding the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cClear communication beforehand or updates on the day would have avoided a lot of frustrations for families who attended specifically for the advertised activities \u2014 I appreciate you acknowledging a mistake and hope any future events are communicated more clearly,\u201d one commenter wrote.<\/p>\n

Another said: \u201cI know you tried to do the right thing and still hold this event but it will be harder to come back from this than it would be if you said \u2018Sorry guys, having issues we need to cancel and will reschedule\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheCamera IconThe venue issued an apology on social media over the event\u2019s \u201csignificant issues\u201d. Credit: The Rec Waroona\/Facebook<\/p>\n

The Rec general group manager Troy Lowrey told PerthNow the confusion over the event was due to a member of the Waroona venue\u2019s management team parting ways with the company in the days before.<\/p>\n

\u201cHead office only became aware (of the event\u2019s issues) when we started seeing messages about how disappointed people were,\u201d he revealed, prompting the apology message.<\/p>\n

He said the social media statement made by the Waroona venue was \u201cto apologise for the disappointment of attendees\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to apologise for what happened \u2014 maybe it does allow people to understand that mistakes do happen and can be rectified, but we weren\u2019t seeking any attention or praise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main reason (The Rec wrote the statement) was to say sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing concerns about the play equipment at the venue, Mr Lowrey said the Rec is working quickly to resolve any loose bolts but said the playground had been installed correctly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s remaining closed for now, and on Tuesday there is a crew going down to have a look and reset the playground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Lowrey also gave PerthNow exclusive insight into the \u201cmassive\u201d Australia Day event The Rec has planned to make up for Sunday\u2019s error: \u201cWe\u2019ll be doing a Free Food Sunday so anyone that comes down in the time window will get fed for free.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A WA venue has been forced to issue a public apology after an advertised weekend event left local…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,1625,45],"class_list":["post-423848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-lifestyle","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}