A bank holiday event which has drawn tens of thousands of people to the Three Counties Showground over the last three years has threatened never to return.

Organisers of the Amer-ican Extravaganza, attended by 7,000 people over the weekend, are blaming a "lack of communication" for problems at this year's event and have complained of clashes with an English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) concert on the Sunday.

Lizzie Diamond, chief organiser of the extravaganza, said she was forced to transfer everything from her office to her car at short notice on the Sunday afternoon to allow the ESO to take it over.

She also said that people had been expecting to be able to drive to the ESO office on the showground, but this was within the perimeter of the extravaganza's pedestrianised area.

In addition, she added that part of the extravaganza car park had been cordoned off without warning by the army, which had informed her they were taking precautions against fall-out from cannon fire due to take place during the ESO's concert.

She said that although Three Counties Agricultural Society (TCAS) staff had generally been very helpful, the breakdown in communications had meant she was now weighing up the possibility of transferring next year's event elsewhere - especially as showground hire fees had increased.

"We were actually paying a lot more this year than we have been in previous years," she said.

"Now we've got another showground in mind for next year."

A spokesman for the Three Counties Agricultural Society admitted problems occurred with communications on the day, but added that a meeting was to be arranged with Miss Diamond "to resolve her concerns for the future".

Pictures - see page 27.