Hopeful festival goers who were set on attending the Sunday installment of the second annual Great GoogaMooga were sorely disappointed with its cancelation.
Due to poor weather, the New York City Parks Department, Prospect Park Alliance, and GoogaMooga decided to cancel the festival "in the interest of safety and prevention of damage to the park grounds," according to a representative from GoogaMooga.
But those planning on attending were not pleased with the decision.
A "GoogaMooga vet" hailing from Chelsea said he and his four friends arrived at 11 a.m. to beat the lines and soak in as much as possible.
"We got there last year right when it opened and found that was best because there were no lines, but this time they made us stand there and wait," he said. "12 p.m. rolls around, and nothing. By 12:15 p.m., a man walks down the line saying 'the event has been canceled, go home.'"
But by then, the natives were getting restless.
"Right before it was canceled, people started chanting 'Boo-ga Mooga, Boo-ga Mooga,'" he continued. "I'm quite frustrated. I think it was handled extremely poorly."
He noted he received an email at 11:10 a.m. from GoogaMooga organizers saying additional Sunday tickets were available, and that the lines are moving quickly. "So safety conditions arose in 50 minutes?" he said.
Others waiting to enter the festival also received the email, he said. "That frustrated all those who were waiting around us, as clearly there were no [food] lines to be moving," he said.
When asked if he would return next year, the foodie from Chelsea said: "To be honest, I'm not sure. While the festival has a lot of potential, it remains to be seen whether the GoogaMooga organizers can pull off an event that runs smoothly... You know, they say 'rain or shine.' This is rain. Why am I not inside?"
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