Arts & Entertainment

Organizers Cancel Fall Fine Arts Fest in Pierson Park

The unforeseen and prolonged delayed re-opening of Pierson Park in Tarrytown has caused annoyance for citizens eager to get in there and enjoy the new grounds and one major cancellation.

Paragon Arts, who for past years has hosted a Fire Arts Festival in Pierson Park, has decided to cancel their event this season. It was slated for the weekend of October 5 and 6, but with no guarantee from the village that the park would be open (though some have said unofficially that is expected to happen at last before the end of September), Mary Lou Gladstone, President of the Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow Arts Council said it was for the best to forget it this time around.

“While we are not happy about this, it is the best call for all parties concerned,” Gladstone said.

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The park was originally expected to be open by spring, and the Hudson River Festival of the Arts hoped to use it for their June 1 and 2 festival here. The same Paragon producers had arranged to use the parking lot instead. 

“It was a lovely show, we had many visitors and work sold, with the Arts Council doing projects with children on Saturday, but” – noted Gladstone – “it was unexpectedly SOOOOOO HOT that weekend that it became a problem with people getting heat-sick because the blacktop was so much hotter than the park would have been.”

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Paragon does not want to risk using the blacktop again and will hold out for fall 2014, Gladstone said.


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