Lil Durk-headlined Juneteenth event in Upstate New York canceled due to lack of permits

Rappers Lil Durk and Busta Rhymes were scheduled to perform at the weekend festival, organizer says

A large-scale Juneteenth celebration near Albany scheduled for next weekend has been canceled over a lack of permits.

The event commemorating the end of slavery was to have taken place on June 19 and 20 at the Altamont Fairgrounds. The facility’s board of directors told the Albany Times-Union that multiple permits regarding health and safety precautions weren’t completed or issued.

Altamont Fairgrounds in Albany, New York. (via albany.org)

Event organizer Greg Kornegay told the newspaper he had secured a permit from the county health department, insurance, a COVID-19 guidance plan, security and safety protocols..

He said he had suggested setting crowd capacity lower to avoid having to issue a permit for a large gathering, but that fairgrounds representatives had stopped returning his messages Friday. He said he had sold about 1,000 tickets and would refund the money if he was unable to find a new location.

The brother of rapper Lil Durk (above) was reportedly found dead in Chicago over the weekend.(Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for McDonald’s)

Kornegay said Chicago-based Lil Durk was to have headlined on Sunday and Busta Rhymes was scheduled to perform Saturday.

“It was going to be historic,” Kornegay said. “For them to go ahead and push the button and cancel it rather than work with us, I feel slighted here.”

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