Clearwater Festival Slated For June 20th and 21st

Courtesy: clearwaterfestival.org

This year the Clearwater Festival is set for June 20th and 21st in Croton on Hudson at beautiful Croton Point Park along the Hudson River. It will be two days of wonderful music, vendors and exhibitions. This year's artist round up is full of incredible performers including Todd Snider, The Mavericks, Neko Case, David Crosby, Citizen Cope, Los Lobos, The Lone Bellow and many more. For tickets and more information visit the official website.


From the website:
Back in the mid-sixties, after centuries of accumulated sewage pollution and industrial dumping of toxic chemicals, the Hudson River, like many of America’s most important estuaries, was declared “dead”. The river’s fragile ecological system was devastated. Not a single fish was found in many areas, and the level of commercial fishing had dropped so dramatically as to be regarded as nonexistent. Recognizing this incredible social and environmental tragedy, Pete Seeger, a popular musician and respected activist, decided “to build a boat to save the river”. Holding small, fundraising river concerts throughout the Hudson River Valley, he literally passed his banjo among the crowd, collecting contributions to build the elegant tall ship that would become a symbol of environmental advocacy, the flagship of the American Environmental Movement, the sloop Clearwater.

This nomadic folk festival picnic continued to travel through out the Hudson River Valley, then in 1978 the gathering set down roots at a historic river park, Croton Point, on the Hudson River and was coined The Great Hudson River Revival. However, ten years later, due to pollution problems with the landfill at the park, the festival was forced to move from the river. This move resulted in a decade of exile inland at a suburban college campus. In 1998, however, the Clearwater board of directors pushed to move the festival on or near the Hudson River, and a year later the Clearwater Festival returned to its spiritual home, the shores of the Hudson River at Croton Point Park.

Since the 1960s, the Clearwater Festival has grown into the country’s largest annual environmental celebration, its music, dance and storytelling, education and activism attracting thousands of people of all ages to the shores of the Hudson River.

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