Ecuadorian festival in train station parking lot cancelled due to non-responsiveness of organizers, village says.

The Croton Board of Trustees had given local businessman Franki Leon another chance after irregularities surrounding the festival held last year.

“Franki” Leon

Many villagers were surprised that the festival planned for Sunday in the Croton-Harmon train station parking lot did not take place. As far as we know, the village did not make an announcement on its Web page about the cancellation; some residents told us that they had made their weekend plans to avoid the area.

We reported last month that the Croton Board of Trustees had given the local organizer, Franquin (“Franki”) Leon of Franki’s sandwich shop and grill on Old Post Road South, another chance to organize an event after a series of problems and irregularities at last year’s Chicha Fest. However, according to Village Manager Bryan Healy, the organizers did not fulfill the conditions of the new permit.

“The organizers were notified this past Monday about missing paperwork required for the use of village facilities (insurance, food/liquor permits, etc.),” Healy told the Chronicle. “The deadline they were given at the time of approval to submit the paperwork was August 16. They were given 36 hours to correct the issues and when it was not done, the permit was revoked.”

Contacted by telephone this morning, Franki declined repeated requests to explain what had gone wrong and why the deadline had not been met. Rather, he told us, among other things, that it was “none of your business” and threatened to publish negative statements about the Chronicle’s editor on village social media.

Chronicle Editorial.

We don’t know how likely it is that the Board of Trustees will give Franki and his collaborators on the event, Patricio Records, another chance to organize a festival in the village. We do think it would be a great idea to have an Ecuadorian music festival here, but perhaps someone else should organize it.

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