FREEwilliamsburg: No Agreement In Place for Jelly Pool Parties, "End Could Be Near"

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Updated w/ a comment from Sen. Schumer...

Could our beloved Jelly Waterfront Pool Parties actually really for realsies dry up? Gosh, we sure hope not, but that's the word from Jelly's mouth today. From an email we just received:

The future of the Pool Parties at the East River State Park could be in jeopardy. After a very successful 2009 season with 8 weeks of free performances including Grizzly Bear, Girl Talk, The Black Lips, Dirty Projectors, Deerhunter, Dan Deacon, No Age, Mission of Burma, Beach House, and Simian Mobile Disco, news came from the New York State Parks Department and the Open Space Alliance that the East River State Park may not be available to JELLY for the 2010 season. This will ultimately put an end to the flourishing free summer series.
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, a Brooklyn native, is now leading the fight to save the JELLY Pool Parties. The Senator took the stage at the last Pool Party in August 2009 and pledged that the free concert series would return to the waterfront in 2010. Senator Schumer and his staff have been campaigning for the Pool Parties to remain at the East River State Park, speaking to other state and city officials to ensure JELLY's free summer series will be back for a 5th year.

So what can YOU do to keep the pool parties alive? Call or email your Senator! Chuckie hung out at the parties last summer, you might have seen him. He gave a speech before Grizzly Bear promising to pass health care with a call to keep the parties coming. Let's hope he lives up to his word. Here's Jelly's:

JELLY is reaching out to the community to call Senator Charles Schumer at (212) 486-4430, or via email phil@schumer.senate.gov to show their support and express any concerns on behalf of this tremendous free community program. The Senator will relay the public opinion to the NYS Parks Department and the Open Space Alliance.

H20 Shows.

The New York Times has a quote from Schumer who says he'll do everything he can to keep them around.

“I happened to pass by the Jelly concerts when I was riding my bike through Williamsburg and was amazed at the thousands of people who lined the streets to come to the concerts,” the senator said on Wednesday. “People from every part of the country who had made their way to Brooklyn, enjoying music and one another’s company – it’s the best of New York. When I heard that the concerts might be canceled, I couldn’t understand why, given that this is exactly what our parks are supposed to be for, and I am going to do everything I can to see that they continue.”