Bethel Couple Cancel Event- Fans Left With No Where To Go

No Parking signs lined the driveway leading to home of Roy Howard and Jeryl Abramson on Thursday, May 26, 2011. The couple has cancelled their plans to have people camp on their property during the weekend, which features three Phish shows at nearby Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

Roy Howard and Jeryl Abramson have decided to cancel their planned event and turn away potentially thousands of people planning to camp this weekend on their Yasgur Farm property during the three-day Phish concert at nearby Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

Abramson said the couple can not risk additional fines from the town. The town of Bethel has fined them $25,000 alledging they violated a 2007 injunction by advertising the event, and issued four violations for illegal camping already.

“I can't do this,” Abramson said. “We can't afford paying the violations. We have received four already and that is just the beginning. They are going to nail us to the cross.”

Abramson said the couple began turning people away this morning and have canceled all their provisions for sanitation and security. They had charged $50 a ticket and scheduled more than dozen bands.

The couple, who hosted large Woodstock reunions until ordered to stop in 2007, have insisted that they were merely attempting to provide the town with a service. They obtained five temporary camping permits that allowed a maximum of 250 people.

There will be more than 17,000 people in Bethel over the weekend. Abramson said she will soon post information on the Internet with a statement to people who booked with them.

“I am telling people to call the town,” Abramson said. “Surely, they must have a backup plan. The people will be coming out of the concert on LSD and Ecstasy and getting on public roads. What is the plan?”

Abramson said that she has a person stationed outside their property turning people away.

“It seems we have become a pawn between Jeryl and the town,” said one fan, who paid $50 to camp at Roy and Jeryl's this weekend. He said he didn't know where to go and assumed all the campgrounds were booked.

“I just want a place to camp,” he said.