Apparently, dark days have returned to the Devon Horse Show?

With regard to The Devon Horse Show there is always SO much floating around in the past few years, and it makes you wonder because when it comes to Devon and drama, the truth is always stranger than fiction, correct? We’ve already had years of the reported “punisher” when it comes to boxes, yes? Who stays, who goes, who gets moved?

And then there was what REALLY was the truth last year with the cancelling of Devon? Was that US Equestrian or Devon?

One hears so many things, right? Like stuff about the intricacies of hiring police to do traffic control which I might add they HAVE to do, and they should say THANK YOU? I mean let’s get real: nouveau Devon has quite the emphasis on cocktails, doesn’t it?

Then there is the whole who would benefit if Devon ever failed? And the biggest Clydesdale in the room for a few years of WHO WOULD BENEFIT IF THEY HAD TO SELL THE LAND AND WOULD IT BE DEVELOPED?

Why does everything about Devon always feel like Main Line Watergate?

Somewhere in heaven the late great Michael Morrison is shaking his head, isn’t he?

It seems like under the current regime, there is always something newer and more jackassy than the last time we heard anything

So lo and behold, as the court dockets did tell so very recently, Devon Horse Show is suing Easttown Township and Caroline O’Halloran and Savvy have all of the gory details and here is an excerpt:

Devon Horse Show sues Easttown

MAY 5, 2022 / BY CAROLINE O’HALLORAN

Devon Horse Show has filed suit against its own township, accusing it, in effect, of price-gouging the equestrian nonprofit to benefit its own bottom line….The lawsuit is a reaction to the hefty bill Easttown Township presented to DHS for permitting and services for its 2022 show…. and for the first time to be paid upfront…..

“It cannot be overstated that, for the first post-Covid year, 2022, the Township unilaterally and without explanation, seeks to almost double the “Special Event Permit” fee to Devon,” the lawsuit reads….The lawsuit makes free speech and constitutional arguments and says Easttown Special Events Ordinance gives its township manager “excessive unchecked discretion” and represents “government overreach.”

The suit asks the court to, among other things:

-Declare Easttown’s Special Events Ordinance illegal and unenforceable.

-Issue an order allowing Devon to hold its annual show without the “Special Event Permit” and without “Support Services Costs” because both are “unequally and illegally applied to Devon.”

-Order Easttown to award “compensatory damages” to DHS and reimburse DHS for legal fees…..

Here is Easttown Township Manager Eugene Briggs’ complete, unabridged response to our request for comment:

“The Devon Horse Show runs a six million dollar revenue operation, and brings tens of thousands of people to its site over the course of the annual show, and yet continues to demand that Easttown Township subsidize the cost of providing critical police safety services, at the expense of the Easttown taxpayers.“

~ savvy main line 5/5/22

I guess I should remind Devon Horse Show that the First Amendment works both ways, right? That I can have my opinions and share media resources of prior articles on THEM? That I can say something here smells like a pile of manure in August?

Ok Devon Horse Show, what’s REALLY going on? For real, for real? And the free speech component? Well that made me laugh out loud because Lamb McErlane are the attorneys, as in the Bishop Tube Slapp Suit attorneys. And one of the other attorneys in particular? Well he was in the news a few years ago over some business over fees, correct? Truthfully I would love to read the complaint, anyone have it?

So we can hypothesize over Devon’s impetus but it comes down to money and it’s not just Easttown’s fees is it? Is there more? There HAS to be more, right? Because one can’t HELP but wonder if this is part of a larger campaign to shutter the horse show and sell the land?

Other Devon articles over the years:

Skybox Debacle Leads To Lawsuit Against Devon Horse Show: Report

Ousted Devon Horse Show box holders demand reinstatement

Wine, cheese, and artwork featuring animals that drink: Fear and loathing at the Devon Horse Show

Judge rules in favor of ousted Devon Horse Show skybox holder

Devon Horse Show and Country Fair canceled for second consecutive year

Disaster. Devon Horse Show cancelled

THE SHOW WON’T GO ON AT DEVON THIS YEAR

Devon Horse Show CEO is cited for public drunkenness

Devon Horse Show chief says he was ‘boisterous,’ not drunk

Development plan near Devon Horse Show site stirs concern

Devon show foundation says it’s not affiliated with new Devon Preservation Alliance

Shoplifting at Devon (oh, no)

Letter To Devon Horse Show About Boxes

And speaking of spammy, remember the below in 2020 when there were fake Devon pages for a while?

Oh and speaking of boxes, remember their missive to boxholders in 2020 after COVID cancelled the show. It was like pay up buckaroos and I found it in rather poor taste at the time :

In 2015 remember when their website got hacked? Here:

And then of course, remember when they cancelled the show last year but held the carriage pleasure drive? THAT went over like a fart in church with a lot of people.

That Chairman is quite the Dandy. His outfits are very Gilded Age Robber Baron at times, yes? Very To The Manor Born Super WASP, right? But is that the real deal or just a projected persona?

Oh and back to the 2020 cancellation. Back then they didn’t seem to know their own history?

13 times over it’s history Devon has been canceled:
As in….it was not held 13 different years.
Devon Horse Show chronological history
1896 – 1900: Show held either at the Polo Grounds or the lawn of the Devon Inn
1901 – 1909: No show held.
1910 – 1917: Show held at the Polo Grounds.
1918: No show held; War Relief Show was held in June and benefited Emergency Aid
1919 – 1942: Show held at Polo Grounds. Grounds purchased in 1920.
1943 – 1945: No show held. Dog show and Country Fair held 1943 and 1944.
1946 – 2019: Show held.

Another Devon thing I do not understand is why they didn’t mention on their Facebook Page or website when one of their big volunteers and board members died? I did not know her personally, but I am shaking my head at the fact that they haven’t said a peep that I can find, and she passed away in March of this year. I think it displays yet more rather bad form, actually.

My point of recounting the recent history of Devon Horse Show is something needs to change. It’s all so unsavory. They need new leadership and someone to clean house. Now I divorced myself from Devon a few years ago when I could no longer abide nouveau Devon, as in the people who were prancing around there, much like Radnor Hunt, who did not know one end of a horse from the other and lots of them deserved little pebbles in their ridiculous heels at a horse show to match the pretension.

Devon of my childhood was so different. I am sure there was drama because non-profit events always have drama….but the difference is back then it was not so glaringly apparent and the Devon Fudge tasted good. And there were fun antiques dealers and Bryn Mawr Hospital Thrift Shop had a little “store” in that weird little cottage thing. And the horses! The thrill of the Clydesdales and the carriages.

Devon was so special in so many good ways. But Devon now? It’s the school for scandal.

Blech.

I am with Easttown Township on this unsavory and embarrassing business.