A number of people have approached us recently regarding the fact that this year’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival falls on the same weekend as Yom Kippur. When we first realized the conflict, last year, we considered other dates for the event. None were available. The festival takes over a large area of the park, so scheduling is no simple feat. Most of the staff and many of the artists work this event into their calendar, so there was only so much flexibility we had to look at other dates. read more »

The organizing committee met to discuss our options. While we respect the wishes of the Hellman family, the core group who manage the event made the decision. We considered reducing the scope of the festival this year, but that would have been contrary to the spirit of the event. Skipping a year was not a viable option.

We were able to move the Hellman family set to Sunday and have activated a fourth stage on Friday so there is more music to see before the sun sets that night.

What would Warren have done? Sadly, he is not here to ask. Most likely he would have asked us to pursue all possibilities. Our findings would have been the same. He would have reminded us that in 2003, the Sunday of our event coincided with the first evening of Yom Kippur. Above all, he would want the festival to continue no matter what. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is important to the community at large. Please come when you can and enjoy what we have to offer.

Fortunately, it appears to us that the two events do not overlap again until 2030, when the first evening of Yom Kippur occurs once again on Sunday.