RED HOOK — Organizers of a massive waterfront music festival in Red Hook have been touting the fall event and selling tickets — but the Port Authority has yet to finalize its permission for them to use the planned venue, officials told DNAinfo.
Escape Music Festival has been blanketing social media with ads for its debut event at Pier 9’s Red Hook Container Terminal on Oct. 11 and 12 — which is expected to draw close to two dozen electronic and dance music acts and thousands of revelers.
"EARLY BIRD TICKETS ON SALE! PHASE 1 OF LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT IS OUT!" organizers for the two-day festival wrote on their website on July 28, linking to a ticket sales site offering $80 tickets.
"Grab your early bird tix now HERE before prices go up tomorrow!" the site added in a new post on Tuesday. "Get pumped for October in Brooklyn."
However, officials from the Port Authority for New York and New Jersey, which manages the Container Terminal, said that a contract for use of the space had not yet been finalized, as first reported by The Red Hook Star-Revue.
“The terms of the agreement are still being negotiated,” Port Authority spokeswoman Lenis Rodrigues told DNAinfo New York.
The day-and-night music festival has promised dozens of performances as well as food and drink at the pier. About 16,000 concertgoers — 8,000 per day — are expected to attend Escape, founder Merritt Quirk told DNAinfo New York last week.
The maximum occupancy for Pier 9 is approximately 10,000 people, Rodrigues said.
Organizers dismissed the contract limbo as just a paperwork snafu, saying they've already signed an agreement with the Terminal's independent operator.
"We have every expectation that the agreement will be signed with the Port Authority," concert spokeswoman Leslie Friebert said in a statement. "This is a multi-stage process that takes months of planning to complete. We are moving ahead and we are confident that all details will be finalized."
The Container Terminal has previously hosted both private and ticketed shows, including a special Katy Perry concert in 2012 that invited about 2,500 military personnel and families, Rodrigues said.
But past events have not been to the scale of Escape Music Festival, she added.
The 19-and-above event, which will begin at 1 p.m. and continue until 11 p.m. on both days, will also host an array of food trucks and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic concession stands, according to its website.
