Shinnecock Leaders Say Palm Tree Music Festival Went Very Smoothly

Long Island Morning Edition

Hispanics on Long Island continued their population growth between 2022 and 2023, mirroring a national trend, while the smaller Asian population grew at a faster rate, according to estimates publicly released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Meanwhile, the non-Hispanic white population, both locally and nationally, continued to drop, according to the bureau's Vintage 2023 Population Estimates. Whites, though, remain the largest racial or ethnic group, followed by Hispanics, who can be of any race, the Census Bureau said.

Olivia Winslow and Arielle Martinez report in NEWSDAY that on Long Island, the Hispanic population rose 1.1%, growing by an estimated 6,871 people between July 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023, for a total population in Nassau and Suffolk counties of 610,696, according to a Newsday analysis of the census data.

Long Island's estimated total population in 2023 was 2,904,885, a decrease of 8,383 from the prior year, according to the estimates.

However, the non-Hispanic Asian population on Long Island posted larger percentage and numerical increases. The Asian population's 2023 estimate was 252,957, up 10,761, or 4.4%, from the year before, according to Newsday's analysis.

On Long Island, the non-Hispanic white population declined 1.6%, going from 1,738,325 in 2022 to 1,709,773, a drop of 28,552, according to Newsday's analysis. The non-Hispanic Black population rose 0.7%, or 1,849, to 281,016.

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Shinnecock Nation leaders said that the Palm Tree Music Festival held this past Saturday, on the nation’s territory in Southampton went very smoothly, and they celebrated the event as a resounding success for the tribe and for the more than 10,000 music fans who attended. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the council’s vice chairman, Lance Gumbs, said the festival drew 10,358 people to the venue on the tribe’s Powwow grounds on the Shinnecock Neck territory, and that nearly without exception everyone was very well-behaved…”Not one fight!, exclaimed Gumbs”…and the immense organizational effort by the festival’s leaders went off without a hitch.

The bulk of the attendees were dropped off at the festival site by cars, either ride shares or prearranged private transportation, rather than attendees driving or taking one of the shuttle buses and trains offered by the festival. Only about 200 people came in on the LIRR train that arrived in Southampton Village shortly after 2 p.m. on Saturday, and Gumbs said that none of the parking areas at the college or on Shinnecock were completely filled. Municipal agencies had worried that the harried change in venues from Gabreski Airport in Westhampton to the Shinnecock Territory and the lack of some planning steps normally required for such a large event posed safety and logistical concerns and would cause traffic tie-ups for the surrounding community. Ancillary delays on local roads were manageable during the day. On Saturday night for a couple hours after the event concluded around 10:30pm to past midnight motorists driving westbound from Southampton through the Shinnecock area encountered congestion like a bad trade parade evening or like some infamous days during the 2018 U.S. Open Golf Tournament. Nonetheless, Gumbs said the event was a “tremendous boost” to the tribe economically, both from the payment by the festival for use of the territory — which he declined to enumerate — and for the jobs provided to tribal members who worked at the festival site.