The Council for the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall has been granted a permit to run the 12th Annual Riverhead Blues and Music Festival July 17 and 18 on the riverfront.
The Town Board’s action came in a unanimous vote at this afternoon’s board meeting, putting an end to the controversy churning for more than a month over who will run the festival this year. The Chamber’s announcement in March that it intended to file an application for a permit to hold the blues festival surprised the Vail-Leavitt, which has produced the festival since 2006. The nonprofit theater group took over the festival from the Riverhead BID that year and turned it into a profitable venture. After the Chamber announcement, Vail-Leavitt president Bob Barta said the blues festival had become on of the Vail-Leavitt’s principal sources of income. It keeps the historic theater open and operating year-round, Barta said.
After the Chamber’s announcement, blues festival volunteers and organizers registered their objections with the Town Board. Town Board members said they wanted the two groups to settle the matter between themselves such that one group would withdraw its application. Supervisor Sean Walter mediated a compromise on Friday which would have had both groups working together on the festival, with the Chamber soliciting corporate sponsorships and receiving a 25 percent cut of all sponsorships it brought in. The deal was subject to the approval of the boards of the respective organizations. On Friday, Chamber president Robert Lanieri described the deal as “a win-win.”
But yesterday, it fell apart.
Lanieri declined comment earlier today, saying that he would read a letter on the record at the Town Board meeting this afternoon. But the supervisor asked to dispense with that, instead announcing the Chamber’s decision himself from the dais. Board members then voted 5-0 to approve the Vail-Leavitt permit.
Lanieri said in a press release distributed before the board meeting that the Chamber’s proposed partnership in the event was intended only “to help coordinate, promote and enhance this signature event.” But, the event’s “financial arrangement…lacks transparency and full disclosure on the part of all participating parties.”
The Vail-Leavitt permit was granted subject to a requirement that the organization file a profit and loss statement within 60 days of the conclusion of the event.
“We have absolutely no problem with that,” said Vail-Leavitt treasurer Vince Tria after the meeting. He said Vail-Leavitt had agreed to do that “months ago.”
“I’m just happy and relieved that the festival will go on. It’s a great event for Riverhead,” Tria said.
Stony Brook University FM radio station host and music promoter Richard L’Hommedieu, who has reported on the Riverhead Blues Festival saga and advocated for the Vail-Leavitt to retain control of the festival, attended today’s board meeting. After the vote, he thanked board members for supporting the festival, which he says is a crucial event for the Long Island music industry. L’Hommedieu, a founder of the L.I. Music Hall of Fame, told RiverheadLOCAL last week “the festival is much bigger than Riverhead and shouldn’t suffer because of small-town politics.”
Riverhead officials deny that politics had anything to do with recent events. “We wanted to make the blues festival better than ever,” the supervisor said. It seemed natural to get “the best business minds in Riverhead” working on enhancing the event for the betterment of the town as a whole.
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