It has been almost 24 hours since The Hudson Project announced that it was evacuating its venue and campgrounds and festival attendees are still stuck trying to get out of the area. 

Around 4:00pm on Sunday, July 13, 2014, a recorded announcement was blasted through the performance area as well as the campgrounds that “a potentialy dangerous storm was headed through the area and all festival activities would be postponed.” They advised all attendees to seek shelter in their cars as the national weather service issued a severe thunder storm warning for the area. Although the storm did get pretty rough at times, it became pretty clear that the festival did not have a contingency plan in place for this type of weather. As soon as it was safe for attendees to come outside again, The Hudson Project announced that the duration of the festival was canceled.

 

Fans were livid. Canceling Sunday’s performances meant that they were canceling highly anticipated sets from the likes of Action Bronson, STRFKR, Capital Cities, Infected Mushroom, Paper Diamond, a highly anticipated comeback set from Tipper, and of course, the face-melting man himself, Bassnectar.

Festival attendees were NOT PLEASED by the way this mess was handled. Many other festivals have had storms pass through and they find a way to make the show go on. For instance, in 2013 Governor’s Ball organizers were hell bent on making the show go on through a tropical storm. Attendees claim The Hudson Project had completely given up on fans and musicians alike before they tried to develop a backup plan. To make matters worse, the fans who did pack up and tried to escape the mud pit that once was the festival grounds ended up with their cars perpetually stuck in the mud and dead car batteries from waiting for help to arrive. After almost a full day of trying to get out of Saugerties, NY, people are still sadly stuck with no end in site. 

There are documented cases of local police enforement and New York State Troopers just standing and watching patrons trying to get out of the festival grounds without offering a stitch of help. However, the majority of the event seemed quite magical until this poorly handled change in weather occurred. It is such a shame that it had to happen this way because this festival was so full of potential, from the lineup to the scenic and musically historic Hudson Valley location. Below are a few pictures and videos documenting the chaotic events.

A Call To Arms as soon as news broke the the festival was canceled.

Mudsliding, trying to mke the best of a bad situation.

 

[Credit for the photo: Kelly Tahlor]

-Marisa Frydman (@musicalmarisa)