The attempt by Boston-based liquor retailer Gordon’s, in collaboration with Nantucket’s White Elephant Hotel, to hijack the longstanding Nantucket Wine and Food Festival has been thwarted after a federal court in Boston sided with longtime event owner Nancy Bean on December 12. Her event will go on as planned, with downtown’s Nantucket Hotel as its new headquarters, from May 14 to 18, 2025.
“People and companies have a right to compete, but this is not about fair competition,” wrote US district court Judge Leo T. Sorokin in his decision. “It is about a handful of false and misleading statements put out by defendants … in an apparent attempt to run plaintiffs … out of business.”
Bean filed suit against Gordon’s and the White Elephant in June after both entities announced the acquisition of her event and plans to go forward with it on the same dates Bean had set for 2025. Event owner since 2013, she said no such sale had been made or even considered.
In November, she settled her complaint against the hotel with their agreement “not to conduct any event with Gordon Companies or its affiliates or any wine festival or wine and food festival in May of 2025 and May of 2026,” according to a notice of settlement filed in federal court. Both David Gordon, CEO of Gordon Companies, and Khaled Hashem, president of White Elephant Resorts, have since sent a letter to the Nantucket Select Board, withdrawing all pending applications for their manufactured event.
“The White Elephant said they didn’t want to move forward with the lawsuit and settled,” Bean said, and while the dissolution of a partnership with the venue that Bean said enjoyed great success through the years is disappointing, she is excited for the doors that have opened and to have regained her original 2025 program. Mostly.
“This gives us the chance to work with other wonderful venues, keep our dates and move forward. We lost a lot of pre-production time (having to) pause as we dealt with the litigation, but now we’re full steam ahead. From the talent to the venue partners to sponsors and new chefs and restaurants, people have been incredibly supportive and have strong feelings about how it all went down. We’re plunging ahead to make up for lost time and excited about this year’s fest,” she said.
As part of the court’s decision, Judge Sorokin ordered that David Gordon make corrective disclosures to each and every recipient of the Gordon Company’s original, June 2024 email announcement, declaring that no such acquisition ever occurred, as well as on any festival-related sites or platforms the defendants created.
Though the defendant has complied, the damage to what has become a world-class event is significant, Bean said, and the second phase of the lawsuit is pending, as she plays catch-up, deals with a new home base venue, and grapples with lingering questions from some participants.
“People don’t love to hang out with lawsuits,” Bean said. “Even though the court has ruled in our favor, it’s messy and I’m in a constant state of having to re-tell the story and repair the damage. They told the world (the event) had been sold. It’s done reputational damage. Ticket sales usually begin in November, so we’re starting very late, making up for (a half year of) lost time.”
In the meantime, the show must go on, and Bean is ready for it to be the smash hit it was in 2024. The spirit and M.O. of the event itself, she said, are not damaged in the least. Along with the Nantucket Hotel, a collection of smaller venues, restaurants and private homes will also play host to the program’s culinary and wine-focused seminars, while shuttles transport guests to Bartlett’s Oceanview Farm, one of the oldest family-owned farms on Nantucket, where the tasting tents will be located.
“It’s going to be as wonderful as always, and the addition of our new venues and a lot of new blood is exciting and fresh. (The lawsuit) has forced our hands, in a way, to think more broadly and we’re working triple time to catch up.”
In an era that seems defined by David and Goliath scenarios, Nancy Bean refused to be a victim. “I didn’t give up. I put my battle gloves on,” she said. And won.
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