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Woodstock 50 Organizers Still Hopeful Despite Second Venue Setback


FILE - Singer John Fogerty speaks during the announcement event for the lineup for the Woodstock 50th Anniversary concert in New York, March 19, 2019.
FILE - Singer John Fogerty speaks during the announcement event for the lineup for the Woodstock 50th Anniversary concert in New York, March 19, 2019.

The organizers of the beleaguered Woodstock 50 festival said on Tuesday they still hoped to get a permit for the event due to take place next month despite being turned down at a second site.

Authorities in the town of Vernon in upstate New York turned down the organizers' application to stage the three-day event, marking the 50th anniversary of the famed 1969 "peace and music" festival.

Oneida County Administrator Anthony Picente Jr. told Hollywood trade publication Variety that efforts to stage the festival at Vernon Downs for some 65,000 people at short notice had been "chaotic." Picente said he thought the chances of it taking place were "highly unlikely."

However, Woodstock 50 producers said they would appeal.

"With a venue chosen, financing assembled and many of the artists supporting Woodstock's 50th Anniversary event, the organizers are hopeful that their appeal and reapplication" will prevail, the producers said in a statement.

Tickets have yet to go on sale.

The Aug. 16-19 festival was originally due to take place at the Watkins Glen motor racing venue in upstate New York with a line-up including Jay-Z and Miley Cyrus.

Watkins Glen in June pulled out, throwing the festival into further uncertainty after the original investors withdrew their support, citing problems with permits and arranging security and sanitation.

Woodstock 50 announced in March that more than 80 musical acts, including 1969 festival veterans John Fogerty, Canned Heat and Santana, would take part. Some 100,000 fans, including campers, were originally expected to attend, but that number was later reduced to 60,000.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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