The Alive After Five dates for 2018 are official.
And this year, the street festival series in Patchogue Village will kick off in June instead of July. The dates are June 28, July 19, Aug. 2 and Aug. 16.
[Update: The June 28 Alive After Five was cancelled because of rain. The new date of the fourth and final festival in Patchogue for 2018 is Thursday, Aug. 23 (the original rain date).]
Typically the festival runs every other Thursday in July and August in Patchogue.
“We didn’t want to start on Thursday, July 5, in consideration of how important that Fourth of July weekend is for our riverfront restaurants,” said David Kennedy of the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce, which runs Alive After Five. “So we’re starting a week earlier … then taking three weeks off.”
This coming summer will mark the 17th year for Alive After Five in Patchogue, a concept that has since been adopted by the downtown areas of neighboring Riverhead and Bay Shore.
With the backing of chamber leaders in Patchogue, the Riverhead Business Improvement District now runs an Alive on 25 series and downtown Bay Shore plays host to Alive by the Bay, which is run by the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Bay Shore’s restaurant committee.
The Patchogue festivals each carry themes, such as celebrations of the military, cultural diversity, and women in the arts. The 2018 Alive After Five festivals also coincide with Patchogue Village’s 125th anniversary of incorporation.
“So we’ll probably be celebrating Patchogue as one of the themes,” Kennedy said.
Also in 2018, activities will also be happening at the new Blue Point Brewery, which is being built on West Main Street.
That means the flow of vehicle and pedestrian traffic between the festival’s starting point on the west side of West Avenue on the brewery will need to be figured out, said Kennedy.
“There’s still going to be a lot of dialogue between [the chamber] and the village to make sure this event remains safe,” he said.
The Village Board approved the Alive After Five dates on Dec. 11.
