The Wisla Club in Garfield, N.J., some 15 miles northwest of midtown Manhattan, canceled a heavy metal festival after it says that it uncovered ties between organizers and some performers to neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideologies—views that it says were not articulated in the original promotional poster that organizers shared with it.

The club’s board of directors told JNS that it “was not informed about the true intentions of the organizers” of the Vengeance Fest VII event and that the venue was shown a different version of a poster, which later included Nazi symbols.

“We were told that this would simply be a rock and metal music festival,” it told JNS. “Even the promotional poster we received from the organizers was different and contained no Nazi symbols or extremist imagery. The organizers assured us that it was a safe and friendly event for fans of heavy rock music.”

The club sent JNS the altered version of the poster, with neo-Nazi symbols blacked out of band logos.

“At first, we were completely unaware of the seriousness of the situation,” the board said. “Wisła Club rents out its hall, along with professional sound equipment, to event organizers—primarily for Polish artists but occasionally for Spanish and other international performers as well.”

“Like many community organizations, we rely on rental income to help support the club’s operations,” it told JNS. “We would also like to emphasize that Wisła Club is one of the last remaining Polish community venues in the area where both local Polish artists and performers visiting from Poland can hold concerts and cultural events.”

“Fortunately, the event was canceled,” it said. “As soon as we became aware of the connections between some of the bands and the organizers and extremist ideologies, we immediately withdrew our support and canceled the rental. We sincerely regret that this situation occurred.”

The board added that the club will be “making significant changes to our screening and rental procedures for new clients.”

“We cannot allow anything like this to happen again,” it told JNS.

The club announced on Wednesday that the June 26 and 27 Vengeance Fest VII was officially canceled.

The festival, organized by KEP Productions and run by Kyle Powell, was set to feature “extreme metal” bands, some of which had connections to the National Socialist Black Metal music scene.

Promotional materials for the festival contained neo-Nazi symbols, and one band, Grom, has a Nazi swastika in its logo. The logo of another, Nokturne, includes a “black sun” or “sonnenrad” symbol, which neo-Nazis have adopted. The latter band has albums titled “Black Metal Kampf” and “Wolf Reich.”

This is not the first time Powell has organized an event in New Jersey and allegedly misrepresented the festival to a venue.

In 2018, a New Jersey bar nearly canceled the annual Vengeance Fest before Powell promised not to allow neo-Nazi-affiliated bands to play. The bands ended up playing at the festival, and the bar vowed never to work with KEP Productions again.

Everett Garnto, mayor of Garfield, stated that Wisła Club’s “willingness to listen to the community, take appropriate action and reaffirm their commitment to maintaining a welcoming, respectful and inclusive environment speaks volumes about their character and dedication to the residents of Garfield.”

A group of New Jersey lawmakers, including Rep. Nellie Pou (D-N.J.) and state and local politicians, released a statement on Wednesday calling it the “right decision” to cancel the event.

“The racist, antisemitic and white supremacist ideologies reportedly associated with the now-canceled music event in Garfield are fundamentally at odds with the values we share as a community,” the lawmakers said.

The Garfield Police Department stated on Wednesday that it had received information that the bands playing at the event “may have ties to white supremacy and antisemitism” and that police had been in touch with the club about potential security concerns.

The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey stated that it is “concerned by reports that the event promoter still intends to hold the event at an undisclosed location.”

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