NEWBURGH – The very successful Newburgh Illuminated festival aimed at shining a light on all that is good in the city, may not come off later this year.
There is apparently an issue with the permit and a 7 p.m. Sunday curfew in the city.
Event immediate past president Paul Ernenwein told the city council the annual event shows the entire region what Newburgh has to offer.
“It extinguished ignorance. It extinguished the ignorance in our adjoining towns and cities. It extinguished the ignorance throughout the Hudson Valley,” he said. “When you grow up as a kid here and you go and visit other schools and communities, you hear that your hometown sucks. It’s dangerous, it’s nasty, it sucks.”
Newburgh Illuminated, which has attracted as many as 100,000 visitors to the city, aims to reverse that image and shows the positive side of the city, he said.
Rich Fracasse, a local businessman also heavily involved in the annual event, said if the City of Newburgh won’t approve holding the event, the Town of Newburgh is “begging” Newburgh Illuminated to come to the adjacent community.
