After The Brooklyn Papers reported (on Friday, September 28th) that the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival wasn’t returning to Empire Fulton Ferry State Park music fans wanted to know what was going on.

Due to a schedule conflict with a Polish language production of Macbeth, the festival was feared to be cancelled, but the good fest folks let us know it was all still a go.

“We will be moving the Festival date to early July, tentatively July 12th,” said Festival Chair Wes Jackson. “We sat down with the Conservancy and figured a way around the scheduling conflict. It actually may be a blessing in disguise as we are working on launching a BHF Tour in ‘08. Moving the festival date to mid July allows us to use the Brooklyn date as the tour launch.”

And for those who thought that it was some weird racist anti-hip-hop thing, think again.

“Because of reasons fair and unfair when you say ‘Hip-Hop’ people get concerned, Jackson added. “In addition, we produce a large event that brought over 10,000 people over a three day period to a residential neighborhood. These are homeowners who may not want to hear Tony Starks [aka Ghostface Killah] outside their front window. This is why other large music festivals and concerts like Coachella and Rock The Bells are done in out of the way places. Our Festival is in Brooklyn, in the community. And that brings along with it a new set of issues. Thankfully we have not had a single incident in three years. Anyone who has been to the Festival can attest to the positivity and diversity. The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and the New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation have worked with us to navigate these issues for the past two years and we will continue to do so.”

For more info, check www.brooklyn bodega.com.