FAA tells Palm Tree Festival to find other venue for Hamptons event
The FAA has told the organizers of the Palm Tree Festival that they need to find another venue to hold next month's event instead of Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton. Credit: John Roca
Organizers of the annual Palm Tree Festival, which bills itself as a “tropical lifestyle”-themed electronic dance music concert, may need to find another location for the June event after being denied a request to hold it again at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach.
The Federal Aviation Administration, in a letter to airport manager Joshua Smith on Wednesday, rejected an application to close one runway at the Suffolk County-owned airport between June 16 and 23, and a second runway on June 22 and 23.
The letter suggested organizers look to Hamptons locations other than an active airport to hold the festival, but noted the FAA decision is not final and can be appealed.
“Holding this event elsewhere will secure the safety of the flying public and protect concertgoers that may intentionally/unintentionally enter an active movement area,” wrote Evelyn Martinez, manager for the FAA’s New York Airports District Office.
Representatives from organizer Squadra Entertainment did not respond to requests for comment. Suffolk County officials said they may file an appeal.
“The county has met with event organizers and will evaluate options which may be available,” Mike Martino, a spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine, said in an email.
The FAA approved the festival in 2021, 2022 and 2023. An FAA spokesperson said the agency changed its guidelines last May for granting runway closures.
“In 2023, the FAA advised the airport [Gabreski] it would not grant approval for the event in future years,” the FAA spokesperson said in an email.
Tickets ranging from $315 to $522 for VIP admission are still being sold online.
The dual headliners are DJ and Norwegian EDM producer Kygo, né Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll, a founder of the lifestyle brand Palm Tree Crew, the traveling festival's production company, and the Stockholm-based trio Swedish House Mafia.
Squadra in 2021 initially sought to host the festival at the Nova’s Ark property in Water Mill, the site of a controversial 2020 Chainsmokers concert investigated by the state Health Department for failing to follow COVID-19 guidelines. Southampton Town officials denied their request to hold the concert there in 2021, citing traffic, safety and other concerns and the festival was instead held at Gabreski Airport.
Vera Chinese covers Suffolk County government and politics. She joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.
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