Winkler Mayor Martin Harder is disappointed by the negative publicity surrounding the recent Discover Local Business Expo.

Former Associate Planner on the event, Jasmine Mirau, recently came under fire on social media for her past event planning business.

Mirau (who also went by the name Jasmine Heymann) was part owner of the now insolvent Manitoba Equine Expo out of Winnipeg, which cancelled a number of trade shows earlier this year without refunds. The company filed a legal consumer proposal in June 2016 to pay back a portion of the thousands of dollars owed to vendors and creditors.

Mirau says she's committed to making the consumer proposal payments.

"Although it was never my intention, I did hurt people in the community directly or indirectly as a result of the Manitoba Equine Expo business failure," she says. "And I am very sorry."

Mirau says she was grateful to be a part of the Discover Local Business Expo that was "truly for the community, and the community rallied together to make it a success."

While Harder did not comment on the allegations against Mirau or her past business dealings, he says the city is proud to have been a part of the Discover Local Business Expo.

"It was a fantastic event, the Chamber of Commerce handled absolutely everything with full integrity... they've done a wonderful job," he says, adding all vendor fees were paid to the chamber of commerce and are accounted for.

"The business people that displayed goods there should rest assured the chamber is not promoting anything that is not legitimate," he says.

In a statement the Winkler and District Chamber of Commerce explains they have since cut ties with Mirau, and were unaware of her history during the planning for the Discover Local Business Expo.

"All organizational aspects of the Discover Local Business EXPO, including finances and handling of personal information were handled by the Chamber, and we are confident that there has been no compromise to the integrity of The Chamber or to participants of the EXPO."

The statement adds, "The Winkler & District Chamber of Commerce does not have any further affiliation with the person in question and did not have prior knowledge of previous accusations against them."

Harder says the event generated plenty of interest among the public and local entrepreneurs, "in the future I'd encourage the chamber to promote local business through an event like that."

More than 50 local businesses took part in the expo, which also featured photos with Santa, carolling and an appearance from children's cartoon character, Mike the Knight.