Pleasantville Music Festival Canceled for Second Straight Year
For the second straight year, there will be no Pleasantville Music Festival, another consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Festival Executive Director Bruce Figler confirmed over the weekend what had been suspected for weeks, that with strict capacity limits set by New York State and time growing short to secure performers, there was little choice but to cancel the July 10 event scheduled for Parkway Field.
Figler said that he had been hopeful earlier this year when the state revised its guidelines that could allow 33 percent capacity, organizers could plan a scaled-back festival. However, the maximum attendance would be 500 people with proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test and would include all people at the venue, including police officers, volunteers, vendors, the stage crew and musicians.
Recently, the festival has drawn about 5,000 music fans in good weather.
“What, are we going to sell 300 tickets?” Figler noted. “That’s not exactly a way to make it a successful operation, which means we have to lose money. I don’t want to be losing money for the village. So with that in mind, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s still too far off.”
There is a possibility of moving the festival to later in the year, but until restrictions are lifted no plans will move forward, Figler said. If there is no substitute event, the village will look to try again next year by most likely scheduling it for July 9, 2022.
Until last year, the festival had been held for 15 straight years since it was established in 2005, typically for the second Saturday in July.
Figler said being forced to cancel for two years in a row is disappointing but believes that when the festival does return, there will be pent-up energy and enthusiasm for what promises to be a great event.
“We’re going to have a lot of music-starved people, and originally I thought if we could get permission from the state to do 1,500, the village might go for it,” he said.
However, the village never crunched the numbers to learn what the lowest number of spectators it could allow into Parkway Field and still have a chance at breaking even, Figler said.
“If we get the go-ahead for this thing (next year), I’ll start working on it in November for next year,” Figler said.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
