Organizers of the Governors Ball festival have confirmed the event will continue as planned. Yesterday, the festival announced it was closely monitoring air quality concerns after wildfire haze from Canada engulfed New York.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams described the air quality as very unhealthy, suggesting many people should stay inside. The festival acknowledged the concern yesterday on social media, but didn’t want to pre-emptively cancel the event this weekend in Queens.
The orangish-haze that settled over New York is the result of Canadian wildfires burning out of control. More than 9.8 million acres have been burned in the earliest start to fire season yet. Multiple events around the city were cancelled on June 7 due to the poor air quality including a Chris Stapleton concert in Syracuse, and a Hamilton performance on Broadway.
Governors Ball is an outdoor music festival held every year at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. The lineup for this year’s festival includes Lizzo and Odseza. Lil Nas X, Haim, Rina Sawayama, Pusha T, Snail Mail, Lil Uzi Vert, Diplo, Giveon, Lil Baby, PinkPantheress, Black Midi, and Syd are also set to perform.
This isn’t the first time the organizers of the Governors Ball have faced potential cancellation. In 2019, the last day of the festival had to be evacuated due to thunderstorms and severe weather. In 2020, the Governors Ball was canceled entirely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 and 2022 editions of the festival were held in the parking lot of Citi Field in Queens before finding its new home in Flushing Meadows.
The three-day music festival is slated to continue. It was founded in 2011 by Jordan Wolowitz and Tom Russell featuring a variety of genres of music from rock, hip hop, electronic, and indie. This year’s festival will be streamed online via Twitch.