[Photo via Park Slope Patrick Stewart]
When the third day of the second annual Brooklyn foodie shitshow The Great GoogaMooga was cancelled due to weather, potential festival-goers were bummed, food vendors were pissed, and pretty much e...
[Photo via Park Slope Patrick Stewart]
When the third day of the second annual Brooklyn foodie shitshow The Great GoogaMooga was cancelled due to weather, potential festival-goers were bummed, food vendors were pissed, and pretty much everybody was cranky about all that wasted food. If there's any silver lining in this, it's that at least organizers Superfly—while failing for a second year in a row to throw an uncontroversial food festival—were at least able to get some of that food into the hands of deserved charities, including the Food Bank for New York City.
Gothamist gets a rundown from City Harvest, which reportedly got 2,500 pounds of food out of the deal, but much, much more than that was wasted both during the chaos of the initial cancellation and because food banks are restricted in terms of what donations they can accept. And of course that will probably do little to allay the anger of food vendors, many of whom are, like Brindle Room, out well over $10,000, despite being told it was a "rain or shine" event.
Unsurprisingly, many are beginning to question whether or not Superfly should try to bring the Not-So-Great GoogaMooga back for a third year. Grub Street, for one, argues that it's time for the Moog to give up the ghost, noting that, in addition to the food waste and two disastrous years in a row, the festival simply isn't bringing anything unique to the New York dining scene. Add this to increasingly vocal critics citing concerns about using a public park for a for-profit event, which only brings in $75,000 at most for the park, it might just not be worth it.
Event co-founder Jonathan Meyers, meanwhile, tells Gothamist that they need to assess this year's event before deciding whether or not to return. If it doesn't return, there's a definite precedent for that for Superfly: Despite the promoters' success with Bonnaroo and other festivals, it ran Vegoose in Las Vegas for just three years. A big part of that decision will likely be affected by whether or not Superfly's GoogaMooga follow-up in Chicago encounters similar issues.
Time will tell whether or not it returns, but for now everyone can do those vendors a solid by eating everything. Of note: Red Hook Lobster Pound's truck is in Midtown today with $12 lobster rolls, while a whole slew of places, like P.J. Clarke's, OTB, Fedora, and others, are selling oysters that went unsold on Sunday. Know of any other ongoing GoogaMooga-related deals? Send them to the tipline.
· GoogaMooga Rainout Hangover: Wasted Food, Livid Vendors [Gothamist]
· After Two Years of Problems, Is It Time for GoogaMooga to Give Up? [Grub Street]
· All Coverage of The Great GoogaMooga [~ENY~]
