Red sun in Brooklyn through smoke haze, by ryan.f.mandelbaum, is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Smoky conditions force BRIC to reschedule its opening Celebrate Brooklyn! concert
The Wednesday performance, which was to feature Taj Mahal, Corinne Bailey Rae and Harlem Gospel Travelers, was moved to June 12
The smoky haze blanketing the city has forced BRIC to cancel the highly anticipated opening night of its Celebrate Brooklyn! concert series in Prospect Park.
The organization announced Wednesday afternoon that concert, which was to feature Taj Mahal, Corinne Bailey Rae and Harlem Gospel Travelers, has been cancelled because of “poor air quality index in New York City.” The concert has been rescheduled to Monday, June 12, though without Corinne Bailey Rae.
“Due to the unprecedented air quality situation in New York, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!’s opening night,” said BRIC President Wes Jackson in the release. “The health of our staff and the communities we serve is the number one priority for BRIC and we can’t, in good conscience, risk the wellbeing of our friends and neighbors who may have high risk health issues.”
A previously scheduled Family Day for Saturday is still slated to go on as of this writing.
Wednesday’s concert was due to kick off the 45th edition of the summer-long festival — which takes place Prospect Park’s Lena Horne Bandshell and is run by the Brooklyn-based BRIC nonprofit arts organization. Celebrate Brooklyn! will run from Saturday to August 24.
Wildfires in Canada are the culprit for the smoke, billowing in from Quebec. Smoke started arriving Tuesday, with the air quality index hitting extreme levels and our air quality being the worst in the world. Forecasters don’t expect it to improve until at least Thursday.
UPDATE: BRIC had previously said that the Taj Mahal performance would not be rescheduled, but then issued a “surprise” announcement that he will in fact play on June 12.
