Here’s hoping those airline tickets are refundable. There’s some sad news for fetish fans: New York’s annual Folsom Street East Festival planned for this June has been canceled due to construction.
Inspired by San Francisco’s famed Folsom Street Fair, the New York offshoot often attracted thousands of visitors and raised countless dollars for LGBT-related charities.
A note posted on the festivals’s site reads:
It is with sadness that the Producers and Board of Directors of Folsom Street East have to announce that the 17th annual Folsom Street East Street Festival this June is going to be cancelled. Though we continue to receive support for this community-building and fundraising event from Community Board 4 and our neighbors on the block (including our producing partner The Eagle NYC), the ever-growing construction on the north side of 28th street has made it impossible for us to successfully and safely hold our annual street festival. Thank you for the years of support from our attendees, sponsors, partners, exhibitors, vendors, performers and volunteers; we are sad that we will not be able to celebrate Pride with you at our fetish-friendly event this year.
Don’t put away your gear just yet. Organizers hope to return the kink to the streets of New York next summer, but until then look at these scorching hot photos from last summer’s fest.
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Photo: Flicker
JoeWatchesTV
Funny, I had heard that somehow everyone got tied up at the same time and no one got to City Hall for permits, etc.
Bob LaBlah
@JoeWatchesTV: Not only that it seems strange that it could not be held on Christopher street as an alternative if 28th street is being rebuilt with overpriced, multi-million dollar broom closets. Considering how astronimical rents have chased out many old established businesses (mom and pop restraunts and small shops) this event would have been a well needed boost.
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I think you are correct in your hearsay report. Something doesn’t sound quite right with the “official” version.
DOFEK
WOW you guys are HOT!. AdamHomo
balehead
This sounds fishy…..Where did all the funding go????
viveutvivas
I think gentrification and the suburbunization of the city is what’s really to blame. The NYC of yore is basically dead. Yuppies with their strollers don’t want to see that type around. For the city, gays are fine if they are quiet, but not in your face.
viveutvivas
@Bob LaBlah, I don’t know how well you know NYC, but my impression is that Christopher Street isn’t the alternative-friendly place it was 20-25 years ago. A street of overpriced boutiques and million dollar+ apartments that hasn’t been particularly gay friendly for a long time (see e.g., their attempts to rid their area of queer youths hanging around there) is not going to tolerate a festival like this. The homeowner’s and business associations would have a coronary at the mere suggestion.