For 13 years, Dave Thompson has owned Gibby’s Irish Pub on West 2nd Street in Oswego.

Each year, he looks forward to the surge of business that usually comes with Harborfest.

“It’s a tremendous hit in the last couple years. It’s a big part of my business, even though it’s only four days, but it’s a big part,” said Thompson.

He said Harborfest brings in about a quarter of his profits — which he will be missing out on for the second year in a row.


What You Need To Know


  • Around 70,000 people make their way to Oswego each summer for Harborfest; The city has a population of less than 20,000
  • There won’t be a Harbofest this year but there will still be plenty of things to do this summer in Oswego
  • The city is bringing back its summer concert series at Veterans stage as well as concerts at Water Street Square pocket park
  • An Independence Day Block Party will have fireworks, music, and other entertainment

The city announced Monday that the annual event will be canceled again in 2021 due to COVID-19.

Despite the impact the festival has on the local economy, Mayor Billy Barlow said it had to be canceled .

“As a mayor, I’m disappointed because Harborfest is a great boon to the local economy here, particularly for the bars, restaurants and hotels. Losing that boost mid-summer is certainly disappointing,” said Barlow.

Organizers believe it would be extremely difficult to enforce social distancing for an event that covers the whole city. Not only that, but going forward with Harborfest would hurt the festival organization more than it would help.

“Even if we had Harborfest, at let’s say half capacity or half the parks, Harborfest would still lose a lot of the revenue that it takes in from food vendors, craft vendors and attendees, but still have the expenses putting on the festival to begin with,” said Barlow.

The last year has caused losses that are felt throughout the entire community. Despite having to close at times, Dave Thompson said business has started to pick back up at Gibby’s.

“We’re definitely going ahead with it and hopefully by this time next year, this will all be behind us,” said Thompson.