ACF, WP Query, WP/CP | Type: PHPEvent Listing Ordered by Date

Basic events listing, ordered by date, past events disappearing.

<?php
    $paged = ( get_query_var('paged') ) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
    $today = date('Ymd', strtotime('-6 hours'));
    $eventslist= new WP_Query( array( 
        'post_type' => 'events', 
        'posts_per_page' => 6,
        'paged' => $paged,
        'meta_key' => 'event_start',
        'orderby' => 'meta_value',
        'order' => 'ASC', //sort with soonest items at top
        'meta_query' => array(
            array(
                'key' => 'event_end',
                //'meta-value' => $value,//throws error in PHP 8.3
                'value' => $today,
                'compare' => '>=', //stop showing event when past
                'type' => 'CHAR'
            )
        )
    );
    if ($eventslist->have_posts()) :
        while ( $eventslist->have_posts() ) : $eventslist->the_post(); 

            Custom fields and HTML here to display listing

        endwhile; 
        else : 
            echo '<p>There are no upcoming events.</p>';
    endif;
    wp_pagenavi( array( 'query' => $eventslist ) ); //be sure wp-navi installed and activated!
    wp_reset_query();
?>