A move from the once and future McCarren Park Pool brought JellyNYC's free concert series to Williamsburg's newly refurbished East River waterfront this summer. And though the new venue's different set of rules and government oversight didn't make it easy on producers, this past Sunday's final show of the summer reached capacity for the second week in a row and included high-profile attendees not often seen in Brooklyn.
"You could say we were victims of our own success," said Sarah Hooper, co-owner of JellyNYC, an art, media, and events collaborative, of the pool parties' pseudo-eviction. "The community organizations had been petitioning to have it turned back into a pool, but all of the attention the parties brought to it was enough for the city to allocate $50 million to do it."
The city-run pool location was something of a free-for-all compared to this summer's state park venue, though the young hipster demographic and diverse roster of independent-minded musicians remained true to the spirit of years past. Gone were the slip 'n slide and loose restrictions on alcohol distribution, but they seemed like small concessions to the producers, who wanted to continue the shows while growing the audience. The park is zoned to hold 8,000—including 1,500 in an area left open as a normal park, though each week it was flooded with concertgoers—while the pool only held 6,000.
The transition wasn't an easy one, but this Sunday's completion of the eight-week series seemed worth it to Hooper and JellyNYC founder Alexander Kane, who rely heavily on sponsors and put on the shows in hopes of just breaking even. "Our sponsors are bankrolling this," said Kane. "We want our patrons to recognize them through natural integrations and fun activities like dodgeball or the beer garden."
Patrons were at capacity the last two weeks of the series for shows headlined by Girl Talk and Grizzly Bear, and the crowds weren't just made up of the usual suspects. The pool parties' international press has brought in a lot of outsiders, and some surprising faces were spotted at Sunday's closing show. Jay-Z and Beyoncé camped out in front of the stage, and Senator Chuck Schumer walked the park, speaking with constituents and addressing the crowd.
"Chuck Schumer said he was adamant about continuing the series," said Hooper, who's not sure if the waterfront will be the venue for the 2010 pool parties. "He told us it was one of the best things that's happened to Brooklyn, and that means a lot coming from a native."
Aside from plotting the appropriate next move for the series, JellyNYC has a full plate from the relationships it brokered over the past four summers with brands such as Converse, Red Bull, and Smirnoff. "The pool parties were the launchpad for Jelly," Kane said, "and each year, after the summer, those brands we've worked with—and seen our understanding of that crowd and demographic—want to work with us throughout the year. It's pretty exciting."
