Phish's Curveball cancellation hits sour note with estimated $25M-30M lost in region

Show Caption Hide Caption VIDEO: Phish cancels Curveball, thousands forced to leave After Phish announced on Thursday evening that the three-day Curveball Festival was cancelled due to health concerns, thousands of disappointed fans, vendors and workers spend Friday morning vacating Watkins Glen International.

While Phish fans have packed up their campers and tents to vacate Watkins Glen, the organizers of Phish's Curveball festival are still recovering from a three-day event that never happened.

It's a process that will take months, said Watkins Glen International President Michael Printup in a phone interview Monday afternoon.

"To my knowledge, we've never canceled an event like that," he said.

Printup estimates the region lost out on $25 million to 30 million when the festival was canceled.

The festival was expected to draw more than 30,000 people to WGI throughout the weekend.

But a 14-county state of emergency, the prospect of additional inclement weather and a mandatory boil water order for the Village of Watkins Glen issued Thursday prevented Schuyler County and the New York State Department of Health from issuing the required permits for the festival.

The severe rainstorm hindered the ability to deliver clean drinking water to patrons and vendors as confirmed by test results delivered on Thursday, the Department of Health stated in a press release that was issued late Thursday afternoon.

Requests for comment from Phish representatives were not returned Monday afternoon. But the band addressed fans in a letter posted on Phish's website Thursday.

"We are still in shock. The entire site is already set up and ready to go after literally months of work by our beloved hardworking crew, many of whom have been here for weeks," the letter reads. "Our families are here, our gear is set, our tents are up. We keep waiting for someone to come over and tell us that there is a solution, and that the festival can go on. Unfortunately, it is not possible."

Recovering from a festival that never was

Crews from WGI continued to clean up the site's grounds Monday. Printup estimates that WGI's cleanup and operations team will spend months repairing the grounds.

"We all understand Mother Nature and the infrastructure that we have but it's devastating emotionally and then physically," Printup said. "The property is beat up pretty hard."

Ruts, mud and dirt were left simply from breaking down the festival, not including cleanup needs left by the fans.

While the festival was slated to begin Friday, fans began to arrive when the festival grounds opened Thursday afternoon. Printup estimates that about 12,000 fans were on the property Thursday.

Once the press release was issued stating the event was canceled, word was spread by Twitter, on the Phish website, through electronic signs on highways and a channel on Sirius/XM that was dedicated to the festival.

While the message was spread on numerous platforms, Printup estimates eight out of 10 fans learned through Twitter.

"Phish fans historically, infamously, are very social people," Printup said.

According to the band's website, fans will be informed on how to receive refunds from tickets and information will be posted as it becomes available.

The festival's vendors were provided by both Phish and WGI. While Phish provided merchandise and retail vendors, they made recommendations for food vendors to WGI based on the preferences of fans.

But all vendors were contracted through WGI for liability reasons, Printup said.

Some vendors were commissioned-based and others paid to attend the festival with a flat fee. While those paying commission did not need to pay anything, flat fees were refunded to vendors.

During the two days the gate's festivals were open, the Schuyler County Sheriff's Office reported the arrests of six people. According to the Sheriff's Office's Facebook page, all of the arrests pertained to the possession of illegal substances including heroin, psilocybin mushrooms, marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy.

"All persons were arraigned in the Town of Dix court where they were then remanded to jail in lieu of various amounts of bail," according to the Facebook post. "All subjects have posted bail and will be reappearing in the Town of Dix Court at a later date.

Phish fans react

On Monday afternoon, Phish songwriter Tom Marshall tweeted a single black and white photo.

The photograph, taken by photographer Rene Huemer, depicted the band's guitarist and vocalist Trey Anastasio the moment he learned the festival would be canceled.

The picture "has been haunting me," Marshall tweeted.

Phish fans also took to social media to express their disappointment in the festival's cancellation.

"He looks the same as we all did," Hitch Rarrigan replied to Marshall's Tweet.

He looks the same as we all did. #curveball — Hitch Rarrigan (@gordonstsg) August 20, 2018

Others tried to spin the cancellation into something positive.

"If you’re there already or en route, how about turning this unfortunate situation into one large random act of kindness and volunteering to help out the residents who were truly affected by the rains and flooding?" a Twitter user identified as Chuck Cheeba wrote on Thursday.

If you’re there already or en route, how about turning this unfortunate situation into one large random act of kindness and volunteering to help out the residents who were truly affected by the rains and flooding? #Phish #Curveball — Chuck Cheeba (@chuckcheeba) August 16, 2018

Curveball is not alone

Curveball is not the only event that has fallen victim to weather-related cancellations.

Earlier in August, torrential rain caused the Spiedie Fest & Ballon Rally in Binghamton to cancel its opening day and move its KC and the Sunshine Band concert from Otsiningo Park to the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena in downtown Binghamton.

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While rain has plagued the festival in the past, this year marked the first time that an entire day was canceled.

Following the cancellation, crews from the Broome County Parks Department worked overnight to clean up the park for the weekend's activities.

"It was a lot of work to flip that over like that," Pessagno said in an interview with pressconnects.com / Press & Sun-Bulletin on Aug. 4.

And Saturday, 14 people were injured while waiting for a concert by the Backstreet Boys and 98 Degrees to begin at the WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Oklahoma. A sudden storm blew over supports at the outdoor performance venue, causing injuries.

The concert was canceled and will be rescheduled at a later date.

We never want to put our fans in harm's way and with tonight’s weather and the injuries from earlier, we have decided to cancel the show and will attempt to reschedule. The most important thing is for everyone to get home safely and we will see you all very soon! — backstreetboys (@backstreetboys) August 19, 2018

"We never want to put our fans in harm's way and with tonight’s weather and the injuries from earlier, we have decided to cancel the show and will attempt to reschedule," a tweet from the Backstreet Boys' stated. "The most important thing is for everyone to get home safely and we will see you all very soon."

Phish jams on

WGI and Phish have not discussed whether or not the band will return, Printup said.

"They're still working up there, of course," Printup said. "Our teams our still working. It was just 'take care of business and move on.'"

For those hoping to see the jam band in upstate New York, the Phish fall tour plans to stop at the Times Union Center in Albany from Oct. 16-17.

"It's difficult to deal with, the cleanup and operations team have a lot, a lot of work," Printup said.

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