Avril Lavigne Disappoints Fans In Hometown

Update: Avril's management have released a statement to clarify that the singer was not aware of the award presentation and was not scheduled to attend. Read the full story here.

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Avril Lavigne disappointed fans and hometown locals this morning (Jun 20) by failing to appear as expected to receive an award. The singer was scheduled to participate in the opening ceremony of the annual Napanee Multicultural Festival in her home town of Napanee, Ontario, Canada, to receive an award in recognition of her cultural contributions.

A local youth chamber of commerce representative made a short speech about the contributions Avril has made to the community, but was unable to present the photo collage that she prepared to give to the singer as neither Avril nor any representative were in attendance.

As recently as this morning, the local radio station in Napanee was announcing that a "special guest" was expected at the Festival. Spokesperson Cortwright Christian had appeared on the radio station earlier in the week and stated that either Ms. Lavigne or her father John Lavigne would be in attendance to accept.

When neither Avril nor her father had appeared more than half an hour into the presentation, the spokesperson stated that unfortunately "the person I was dealing with who made certain promises to me about Avril (or her father) appearing evidently did not keep their promise."

Lavigne made a public appearance last week at a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game to throw an opening pitch. So, expectations were high that she was staying in town and was expected to attend.

Approximately 50 fans and Napanee locals waited in the rain in hopes of seeing the singer.

Lavigne was born in Belleville, Ontario. Her family moved to Napanee when she as young and she attended junior and high school in the area as well as sung in Church plays and played hockey in the town. Her early songs included references to growing up in Napanee.