Privacy Policy

We collect information in three general ways: (a) information you provide directly; (b) information collected automatically when you use the Platform; and (c) information from third-party sources where permitted by law and your settings.

Information You Provide

• Account registration details such as name, email address, password (stored in hashed form), phone number, website, city, state, ZIP code, business or organization name, and account type.
• Listing submission data including titles, descriptions, categories, dates, times, locations, counties, contact information, pricing, images, flyers, and related metadata.
• Organizer profile information including organization name, description, logo, website, social media links, and contact details.
• Vendor profile information including business name, description, categories, contact details, and logo where applicable.
• Communications you send to us, including support requests, legal notices, DMCA reports, and contact form messages.
• Future payment and billing information processed through third-party payment processors when Paid Services become available.

When you register for an account, we collect the information necessary to create and secure your profile, authenticate your login, and provide account-specific features. Registration data may include your selected account type (user, vendor, organizer, or other available types), agreement to Terms and Privacy Policy, and optional profile fields you choose to complete.

We use registration data to manage your account, personalize your experience, associate listings with the correct submitter, and communicate service-related messages.

Organizer accounts and organizer profiles may include organization names, public slugs, descriptions, logos, websites, social media URLs, contact emails, phone numbers, and listings linked to the organizer profile.

Organizer information submitted for public display may appear on organizer profile pages, listing detail pages, search results, and promotional areas of the Platform. You control much of this information through your account and should avoid submitting personal data you do not want displayed publicly.

Vendor accounts may include business names, descriptions, categories, contact information, websites, social links, logos, and application or participation data related to events. Vendor information may be displayed publicly where profile features are enabled.

Listing submissions include event or activity details, location information, images, flyers, pricing, approval status, rejection reasons where applicable, featured status, and timestamps for creation and updates. Listing data may be indexed for search, SEO landing pages, category browsing, and featured sections.

Approved listings are generally visible to the public. Pending or rejected listings are visible to the submitting user and authorized administrators.

When you contact us by email or through Platform forms, we collect the information you provide, such as your name, email address, message content, and any attachments or supporting details. We use this information to respond to inquiries, investigate reports, and maintain records of communications.

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate the Platform, maintain sessions, remember preferences, and understand usage patterns. For more information, see our Cookie Policy.

We may use analytics tools to understand how users interact with the Platform, including pages visited, referral sources, approximate geographic regions, device types, and performance metrics. Analytics data is generally aggregated or de-identified where feasible.

When analytics services are enabled, they may use cookies or similar technologies subject to their own policies and our Cookie Policy.

We may automatically collect device-related information such as browser type, operating system, device model, screen resolution, language preferences, and mobile network information when you access the Platform.

We may collect IP addresses and approximate location derived from IP addresses for security, fraud prevention, abuse detection, analytics, and compliance purposes. IP addresses may be stored in logs associated with account activity, listing submissions, and administrative actions.

Our servers and hosting providers may automatically record log data including IP address, request timestamps, URLs accessed, HTTP status codes, user agent strings, and error reports. Log files help us maintain security, diagnose technical issues, and improve Platform reliability.

We use collected information for the following purposes:

• Providing, operating, maintaining, and improving the Platform.
• Creating and managing user accounts and authentication sessions.
• Reviewing, approving, displaying, and moderating listings.
• Sending transactional emails such as registration confirmations, listing status updates, password reset messages, and administrative notices.
• Responding to support requests, legal inquiries, and abuse reports.
• Detecting, preventing, and addressing fraud, spam, security incidents, and policy violations.
• Generating SEO pages, featured sections, and community discovery experiences.
• Analyzing usage trends and evaluating new features.
• Complying with legal obligations and enforcing our Terms and policies.
• Processing payments and managing Paid Services when available.

You may receive service-related communications necessary to operate your account, such as listing approval notices, security alerts, and policy updates. These transactional messages are part of the Platform's functionality and are not marketing messages.

Where optional communications are offered, you may opt out using unsubscribe links or by contacting info@hometownevents.org, except for essential service notices.

With your consent where required by law, we may send newsletters, community updates, promotional announcements, or information about new features. You may opt out of marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe mechanism in the message or by contacting us.

We do not sell your personal information for money. Future advertising programs will be described in updated policy disclosures and, where required, will provide appropriate consent or opt-out choices.

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include password hashing, access controls, encrypted connections (HTTPS), hosting security, and restricted administrative access.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. You are responsible for safeguarding your account credentials and notifying us of suspected unauthorized access.

We retain information for as long as necessary to provide the Platform, fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, and maintain security logs.

• Account information is retained while your account is active and for a reasonable period thereafter.
• Listing data may remain in backups or audit logs after deletion for operational and legal purposes.
• Administrative audit logs may be retained to document moderation and approval actions.
• Communications and legal notices may be retained as needed for compliance and dispute resolution.

Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or port certain personal information, or to object to certain processing. You may update much of your account information through your account dashboard where available.

To exercise privacy rights, contact info@hometownevents.org. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling requests.

You may request deletion of your account and associated personal information by contacting info@hometownevents.org. We will delete or de-identify information where feasible, subject to legal retention requirements, fraud prevention needs, backup systems, and records required for dispute resolution or compliance.

Public listings and organizer content may remain visible until removed through account tools or moderation processes. Some information may persist in cached pages or third-party indexes outside our control.

We may share information with service providers who perform services on our behalf, such as hosting, database management, email delivery, analytics, image processing, customer support tools, and payment processing. These providers are authorized to use information only as necessary to provide services to us and are expected to protect it appropriately.

When Paid Services launch, payments may be processed by third-party payment processors. We do not store full payment card numbers on our servers where avoidable. Payment processors handle billing information according to their own privacy policies and applicable PCI standards.

If we introduce advertising networks, sponsored placements, or audience measurement tools, we will update this Privacy Policy to describe data collection, targeting practices, and opt-out mechanisms required by applicable law.

The Platform is not directed to children under thirteen (13) years of age, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13 without appropriate consent, we will take steps to delete it.

Users between 13 and 18 should use the Platform only with parental or guardian involvement where required by law.

California Residents

If you are a California resident, you may have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the CPRA, including rights to know, delete, correct, and opt out of certain sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising, subject to exceptions. We do not sell personal information for monetary consideration. To submit a request, contact info@hometownevents.org.

Other U.S. States

Residents of Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and other states with comprehensive privacy laws may have similar rights regarding access, deletion, correction, and opt-out of targeted advertising or profiling in certain contexts. We will honor applicable rights as required by law.

Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising privacy rights granted by applicable law.

The Platform is operated from the United States. If you access the Platform from outside the United States, you understand that information may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States and other countries where we or our service providers operate, which may have different data protection laws than your jurisdiction.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted on the Platform with an updated effective date. Continued use after changes become effective constitutes acknowledgment of the updated policy, except where further consent is required.

For privacy questions or requests, contact:

• Hometown Events — Privacy
• Email: info@hometownevents.org
• Subject line: "Privacy Request"