ALBANY — With the help of Citizens Bank, WEXT Radio and Albany.com, the city has crafted a workaround from social distancing protocol that will allow area residents to enjoy what they are accustomed to seeing in Washington Park on Mother’s Day weekend.
Billed as the Virtual Tulip Festival, Albany is taking the annual festival to residents by streaming broadcasts over the internet and cable television.
Virtual Tulip Festival starts broadcasting from YouTube, Spectrum and Fios on Saturday, May 9, at noon. Shows include videos of musical acts and tours of the tulips that have bloomed across the grounds this spring at Washington Park.
The entertainment is stretched across more than five hours and headlines Waitress, Ampevene, Laveda and Sawyer Fredericks.
Cable subscribers can tune in from channel 1302 on Spectrum or channel 37 on Fios. Online streamers can subscribe to Albany Events YouTube channel and set a reminder for the noon start.
Social distancing mandates disallow the congregation of large crowds and forced the city to cancel the annual two-day festival. The virus-related shutdown started in mid-March, long after the city planted tulip bulbs in anticipation of the May event. The mandates prevent the city from hosting droves of people and food vendors, but the tulips have bloomed.
In addition to Saturday’s broadcast, you can see the tulips in our photo gallery below. Also below, find a full lineup of the musical acts scheduled to appear.
List of musical acts to appear on Saturday, May 9.
The Age
Julia Alsarraf
Sam Hatfield
Charlie McClosky
Erin Harkes
Witch Culture
Lucia
Sydney Worthley
Becca Frame & The Tall Boys
Justin Friello
Tyrone Hartzog, Daniel Lawson, Dylan Suski, Justin Hendricks
Caity Gallagher of Honey Slider
Hartley’s Encore
Waitress
Ampevene
Laveda
Sawyer Fredericks
