sub _get_event_data {
  my $self = shift;
  my $file = shift;
  my $data;
  eval { $data = retrieve($file); };
  if ($@) {
    logf('Failed to retrieve data from file'); ### Line that calls failure subroutine above
  }
  my $existing_events = $data->{existing_events};
  return $existing_events;
}