CROTON-ON-HUDSON, NY (CelebrityAccess) — Nonprofit Hudson River Sloop Clearwater announced that the long-running Great Hudson River Revival festival will be scaled back to a smaller, community event for 2020 after the festival incurred heavy financial losses last year.
“We sincerely thank you for your patience over the past several months while we worked hard behind the scenes to analyze the feasibility of another Great Hudson River Revival in 2020. Following much discussion and review of festival production practices, monies still owed to our 2019 vendors, and expenses increasing every year, we have determined that our wisest course is to produce a smaller but still significant event on June 20th and 21st at Croton Point Park,” a spokesperson for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater said.
In a statement, Clearwater Executive Director Greg Williams said that the fest, which is intended to serves as a fundraiser for the organization, chalked up $190,000 in losses in 2019.
Williams attributed the shortfall to a variety of factors, including wet weather that hampered attendance on Sunday, WAMC said.
“[$190,000] may not sound like an exorbitant amount in the music festival industry, but for a small nonprofit (which maintains high ethical standards and receives very little corporate sponsorship), absorbing a loss that great is extremely challenging. This stark reality may not make it easier to accept Revival’s absence this summer, but we hope that our transparency will give you some confidence that we keep our mission close at heart; to continue the work that we do year-round on the Hudson, educating and inspiring the next generation of environmental leaders,” Williams said.
The scaled-back edition of the festival, which will take place in June, will be limited to a capacity of just 529 with tickets first made available to supporters of the foundation.
Williams went on to note that the organization plans to bring the Revival back in 2021 “re-envisioned as a sustainable, less commercial event.”
The non-profit organization was founded by folk singer Pete Seeger with his wife Toshi Seeger in 1966 in a bid to protect the Hudson River and its wetlands system. The organization operates the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater and has staged the Great Hudson River Revival festival for the past three decades.
The 2019 edition of the fest was headlined by Mavis Staples, Ani DeFranco, The Wailers, and Railroad Earth.
