Central NY town denies permit for festival
This central New York town has denied a permit for the planned Woodstock 50 festival to be held at the Vernon Downs harness racing track, saying the application is too late and incomplete.
Organizers can appeal the permit denial to the Vernon Planning Board within five days, Town Attorney Vincent Rossi said Tuesday. Festival organizers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The denial came a day after opponents of the festival, planned for Aug. 1618, packed a Vernon Town Board meeting to voice concerns about safety and traffic in the rural area. Oneida County Sheriff Rob Maciol told the crowd it would be impossible to ensure public safety on such short notice.
Last week, Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said that “with such a short timeframe, the logistical hurdles to ensure the public health and safety of the concertgoers and the surrounding community could pose a significant challenge.”
Vernon Downs, between Syracuse and Utica, emerged as the preferred site for the festival after the original venue, the Watkins Glen motor speedway in New York’s Finger Lakes region, backed out of hosting the event last month, reportedly over the Woodstock 50 team missing payments.
At Watkins Glen, the festival was to have a maximum attendance of 150,000, and camping was to be allowed. The Vernon
Downs maximum was set at 65,000, without on-site camping.
Before the permit denial was announced, Woodstock 50 President Greg Peck said Tuesday that the organizers
were working with law enforcement and public safety officials to address concerns.
“We are confident that this careful planning and consideration of community concerns will result in a safe, world-class festival,” Peck said.
The loss of Watkins Glen as a venue came after
months of trouble for Woodstock 50: ticket sales being delayed indefinitely, the chief financial backer and production company backing out, and a court battle with the backer.
Tickets still have not been made available, and the festival’s website, woodstock.com, continued to list Watkins Glen as the venue
on Tuesday.
The announced lineup for Woodstock 50 boasts more than 80 acts, including Jay-Z, Dead & Company, the Killers, John Fogerty, Miley Cyrus, Santana, Robert Plant, Imagine Dragons, Chance the Rapper and Janelle Monáe.
The festival is to mark the 50th anniversary of
the original Woodstock Music & Art Fair, held in August 1969 on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in the Sullivan County town of Bethel. That property currently is home to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.
Previous Woodstock anniversary festivals were held in 1994 in Saugerties and 1999 in Rome, N.Y. The
1999 show, just 20 miles north of Vernon and in the same county, was marred by fires, rioting, looting and reports of sexual assaults.
The Woodstock 50 team is led by longtime Ulster County resident Michael Lang, who also was part of the partnership that put on the 1969, 1994 and 1999 shows.