The Newburgh Illuminated Festival has been postponed, following an official post from the organization’s Instagram account shared on April 12. The organization looks forward to hosting the festival this year for the community and greater Hudson Valley.

The post read as follows: “Due to difficulties reaching an agreement with the City, Newburgh Illuminated Festival 2023 is being postponed. While we appreciate the support and efforts of some City Council Members, and municipal departments, we have experienced many unforeseen challenges and limitations to our footprint that make the June date impossible. With the small group of volunteers who work tirelessly to execute Newburgh Illuminated each year, we truly need all the support and partnership we can get. Our desire is and always has been to illuminate ALL that the City of Newburgh has to offer. Leaving so many small businesses, many of them new to the community, outside of the festival bounds and inaccessible to attendees complete goes against the mission of Newburgh Illuminated. To be clear: we want to make this happen! Our hope is that in the very near future, we can work with all necessary parties to foster improved collaboration, and once again shed light on our beautiful city and community with the best Newburgh Illuminated Festival yet!”

With the announcement on Instagram, the city released an official statement in response to the postponement: “After months of collaborative planning, the City learned through social media that the Newburgh Illuminated Corporation unilaterally canceled the Newburgh Illuminated Festival scheduled for June 3. It is the City’s responsibility to provide a safe, welcoming, vibrant, family-friendly event for residents, vendors and festival-goers. Sadly, the Newburgh Illuminated Corporation has outright refused even the most routine and reasonable public safety measures put in place by the City’s Police and Fire Departments. After receiving nearly two hours of public comment at the April 10 City Council meeting, the Council agreed to extend the time of the Festival by a full one-and-a-half hours, so that it ends before it gets dark, and City workers can then begin the many-hours-long process of returning the City to full operation. The City’s police and fire departments adjusted the Festival footprint by one block on Liberty Street and one block on Broadway, so that police, fire, and first aid vehicles can reach all corners of the Festival and the entire City outside the Festival footprint. Those were the common-sense terms under which the City approved the permit for the Festival. To be clear: the City of Newburgh approved the permit for the Newburgh Illuminated Festival. Inexplicably, those terms were unanimously rejected by the Newburgh Illuminated Corporation. That conversation is documented, in writing. The City Council’s commitment to a successful Festival is clear: $50,000 has been budgeted for Festival operations, and hundreds of hours of staff time has been invested in approving multiple event permits. Further, the City assumes all risk and liability under a taxpayer-funded insurance policy. We are obviously disappointed by the Corporation’s decision to cancel Newburgh Illuminated. The City Council remains excited to host friends, neighbors, and visitors near and far at our City’s dozens of public events and festivals throughout 2023.”

City Chief of Staff Mike Neppl further clarified the usage of the allocated $50,00 for the festival. “The City budget for the Newburgh Illuminated Festival has increased dramatically as the festival has expanded,” Neppl said via email. “This year, the City budgeted up to $50,000 to cover enhanced costs for new equipment and overtime, particularly taking into account the 28 percent pay increase for our City police in the new PBA [Police Benevolent Association] contract.”

Business owners and Illuminated organizers had appeared before Newburgh City Council to voice their frustrations at the last council meeting on April 10. Construction projects, public safety recommendations, permit approvals and festival footprint changes served as factors when discussing the festival. The changes to the festival approved a footprint up to Spring St. along Liberty from Broadway and then from Liberty to Johnston. A 7 p.m. shutdown was recommended but city council members were open to the idea of an 8:30 shut down time. Several city council members expressed interest in partaking in future discussions about the festival. The yearly festival typically takes place on the first weekend in June.

Newburgh Illuminated Inc. President Daniel De Leo has shared that vendors who had signed up for spots have been refunded and the festival team are looking forward to hosting the event either later in the summer or in the fall. De Leo further emphasized that all the people who help run and plan Illuminated are volunteers and De Leo also equally thanked all the city departments for their work in making Illuminated happen as well for the city and its visitors.

“We’re all negotiating with each other in good faith, it has been a little bit more problematic this year, for some reason, working together with the city. We had to postpone it because we’re not ready yet to move forward,” said De Leo. “We want to work together, we want to compromise, we want to take into account all the concerns that are raised. And we have been trying to do that. But for some reason this year, it’s just been a little bit tougher. And you know, we felt we had to take a pause. We’ve grown it from a fairly small festival into one of the largest festivals in the Hudson Valley.”

Several comments made during the council meeting on Monday night alluded to the idea of Illuminated being moved to the Town of Newburgh or taking the event out of the city. De Leo said the festival group had met with the town and Orange County to discuss county parks as a venue, and other venues have been suggested but not named at this time.

Town of Newburgh Supervisor Gil Piaquadio made it clear this week that he is not interested in moving the event to Algonquin Park or elsewhere in the town.

“This event works best with a Main Street or a Broadway, and it has always been a City of Newburgh event. The logistics will not work in the Town,” said Piaquadio. “We have our own Community Day and have no plans to add another major event.”