The briefly canceled Pool Party is back on.
After negotiating through the weekend, the Open Space Alliance and concert promoters JellyNYC have reached an agreement to hold the Aug. 29 concert at East River State Park in Williamsburg — the final concert of the season after a dispute between the two parties threatened to curtail the free summer series.
“It feels like summer in Brooklyn just got extended by an extra week,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, who mediated the dispute. “I am glad both sides finally came together because these concerts mean so much to the neighborhood of Williamsburg and the people of Brooklyn.”
Earlier this week, the final concert was in doubt when the Open Space Alliance, a key sponsor of the Pool Parties, abruptly canceled the Aug. 29 show citing defaulted and missed $31,000 in payments made by JellyNYC.
But JellyNYC fired back on Wednesday, claiming that it had paid all its bills on time and anything it owed due to “overage charges” that were not even in the official contract with the parks advocacy group for the Williamsburg concerts.
“Jelly fulfilled our final contracted payment hoping that overlooking would lead to a better working relationship,” said Jelly co-founder Alexander Kane. “This plan was met with a simple response stating that the Open Space Alliance did not accept the offer and was canceling our last show with no further talks.”
For the next three days, public officials and developers of sites adjacent to the park worked to resolve the icy standoff to save the canceled show.
After Jelly made an additional payment, owners of land adjacent to the park, including CitiStorage and The Edge, made donations to the Open Space Alliance to allow the concert featuring DeLorean and Dominque Young Unique to continue.
“We were disappointed to learn of the financial challenges with the free concert series, which provides a major benefit to the local community,” said Jeffrey Levine, whose Douglaston Development is building The Edge.
“It’s our privilege to help the Open Space Alliance and state Parks to continue to host amazing concerts,” he said.
This year’s series will conclude as planned, but the future of free programming on the Williamsburg waterfront remains unclear.
The cancellation episode could be the final straw in a cantankerous relationship between the event’s primary organizers that has slowly degraded since the series shifted venues from McCarren Park Pool to the state park two years ago.
