T IMES
‘Gaining momentum’
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION FIRST-PLACE AWARD FOR GENERAL EXCELLENCE, 2016
MID
HUDSON
Vol. 29, No 23
3
JUNE 7 - 13, 2017
3
ONE DOLLAR
Hometown
Premiere “Senior”
prom
Page 27 Page 29
SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR
City
Manager:
More
watershed
protection
is needed
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
Newburgh City Manager Michael
Ciaravino led the sixth community
forum addressing the city water crisis
on Monday night. The meeting, held at
Christ Lutheran Church, compared the
City of New York watershed to the City of
Newburgh’s.
“We need state-of-the-art watershed
regulations,” he said.
Both watersheds provide water from
surface waterbodies that lie outside city
boundaries, Ciaravino said. “Without
state involvement, Newburgh has no
jurisdiction to protect its watershed,”
said Ciaravino, unlike the City of New
York which, in 1997, ushered in a host
of
rigorous
watershed-protection
regulations.
New York City relies on the Croton,
Delaware, and Catskill aqueducts. The
water systems draw water from areas
north the city, including the Hudson
Valley. Among other restrictions, the
Continued on page 4
Newburgh Illuminated draws record numbers
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
It was, by far, the largest crowd so far
at the Newburgh Illuminated Festival,
now in its fifth year. Attendance
estimates range from 12,000 to 14,000
people.
The festival took place Saturday. The
temperature was comfortable, in the
mid-70s, and the sky was clear and blue.
By 2 p.m., the festival center at the
Safe Harbors Green was swarming with
hundreds of festival-goers.
“We’re going to bring it up a notch,”
said performer SriKala, as he churned
out dance music from the Broadway West
Stage during the festival’s Colorfest.
Based on the celebration of Holi, the
Hindu Festival of Colors, the Colorfest
saw people dance wildly, tossing orange-
yellow, hot-pink and bright-purple packs
of colored corn starch everywhere.
The Ritz Performing Arts Stage saw
a full lineup of dancers – an art form
that was entirely new to the festival this
year. “This is the perfect setting,” Ryan
Cronin said, describing the city as an
ideal backdrop for his colorful pop-art
pieces, which hung inside an art tent on
Liberty Street.
Festival Chairman Paul Ernenwein
estimated 5,000 more people attended
the event this year. He credited the swell
in attendance to “careful organization,”
more music, more vendors and an
expanded marketing campaign that
included print, radio, television and
social media.
Saturday’s turnout places the
Illuminated Festival solidly in the
rankings with other large, Hudson
Valley music festivals like the Clearwater
Festival and Mountain Jam.
Revelers at the Colorfest during Saturday’s Newburgh Illuminated Festival.
“I think it’s indicative of what is
happening with the City of Newburgh
right now,” said Bill Fioravanti, head
of festival fundraising and director
of business attraction at the Orange
County Partnership. “I think what we
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saw with the festival is that Newburgh’s
time is now.”
Fioravanti highlighted the changes
in the city’s east end over the last year,
including the opening of several new
Continued on page 5