It looked like a small tornado tore through the Montauk Green and the Montauk Artist Association Art Show early Sunday morning.
Instead, East Hampton Town police say, the destruction was caused by a drunken driver.
In a press release issued early Sunday morning, police said that at approximately 2:59 a.m., Nicoly Ribeiro De Souza, 23, drove her 2020 Nissan Rogue across the green, taking out multiple tents and destroying piles of artwork before she hit a parked car on the other side.
She was transported to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital for minor injuries, released, and charged with driving while intoxicated and six counts of reckless criminal mischief. She remained in custody as of Sunday afternoon.
"She completely decimated the tents and all the artwork," said John Papello, who runs the artist association and uses the art show as a twice-a-year fund-raiser for the association's Depot Art Gallery at the Montauk train station. Mr. Papello received a call at 3:07 a.m. Sunday from the event security guard and was at the scene four minutes later.
"When I got here the car was still in place," he said in a phone call Sunday morning. "The driver and passenger were being interviewed. . . . Our security guard missed getting killed by an inch. The chair she was sitting in ended up under the car. Her husband yanked her out of the way and knocked her off the chair. It was a split-second decision that saved her life."
Mr. Papello, who is also an emergency medical technician, said every airbag went off except for the driver airbag and that it was remarkable the driver was not seriously injured. "She was shaken up, not beaten up. She was transported to the hospital and her passenger was left sitting on the curb crying. She sat on the curb like that, crying, for the next two to three hours."
"A number of artists lost everything," said Evan Reinheimer, an exhibiting artist and member of the art show committee. "She had to be going super-fast. She went right through a wooden barrier around the circle. She hit a vertical post that was ripped out of the ground and flung through the air. I found it about 20 meters away in an artist tent."
The ground of the green was streaked with oil, Mr. Reinheimer said. Despite the destruction, the show opened on Sunday, piles of debris cleared to the side.
"The attendance has been great. We were very busy, and sales have been good for most artists," Mr. Reinheimer said.
Mr. Papello said there were close to 70 vendors participating this year. "Beyond the damage that was done, our concern today is insurance. Who is going to get sued? Are the vendors going to sue me, the town, or the driver? There's a whole mishmash of questions. These are small-time people just trying to make a buck. They may not have insurance policies."
The artists association started a GoFundMe page to support the nonprofit and the individual artists affected by the accident. "These art festivals are the livelihood of these artists and the art show is the main fund-raiser for the Montauk Artists Association," it said. "These are not inexpensive displays. An art festival display of the caliber destroyed here can cost $5,000+ each, before even taking into account the cost of artwork and time these artists have spent creating it.Not only will artists need to purchase entirely new displays & create a new inventory of work, the missed income from not being able to exhibit for months can be career ending."
On Monday morning, the page had raised $8,265 toward its $26,000 goal.
"Alcohol is a big problem here," Mr. Papello said, switching to his E.M.T. hat. "Probably half our calls in the summer are related to intoxication." He said a couple of venues even have trained E.M.T.s on staff. "They know you're going to get sick."
