Takin It To The Streets
Is anyone else sick of street fairs? I spent the weekend walking around the city with friends, and everywhere we turned, there was some street fair going on. Why does every group of people insist on celebrating their heritage with some lavish, loud, obnoxious street demonstration?
It isn’t like these fairs are at all that unique from one another… Be it the Feast of San Gennaro, the Malaguena festival, the Ukranian festival that happens in the East Village every summer, or one of the other thousands of others, it is getting a bit cumbersome. Can’t we all just celebrate the many backgrounds that make up New York with one city-wide parade in the middle of the summer, instead of these weekly dirty, smelly, sweaty, rat-infested mini-fests, each having 50 T-shirt booths (selling T-Shirts that say stuff like “Kiss me, I’m (fill in ethnic lineage here)”, 4 Zeppoli stands, and 2 pizza stands? Am I out of line here? Does anyone else feel that this is getting to be a bit ridiculous?
On a more practical level than just my sheer annoyance, each of these festivals has to have a police presence that is expensive, and could potentially leave other areas at risk for higher crime.
What do you think, NYC?
[Photo courtesy BridgeAndTunnelClub.com]
Get Over It.
Thanks for the constructive criticism, Andy! Keep up the good commenting. Very helpful.
But without street fairs where would you buy tangled underwear in a plastic bin?
Part of the problem is that the same handful of vendors dominate most of the streetfairs. I remember reading last fall that over half of the booths at all the fairs are run by less than 2 dozen companies. The street fairs should reflect their neighborhood, but I see the same booths selling overpriced Italian sausages, zeppoles, and dollar socks.
As for the police, the sponsor of the festival must pay the cost of sanitation and security, and they provide some of the own people for both. They pay for it out of the booth fees they charge the vendors. Also, I can’t say for sure, but I’m pretty sure that the cops working the street fairs are pulling OT, and they’re not leaving another area unprotected.
It’s basically the same lamo street fair, over and over again. One weekend they’re here… next weekend they’ve just moved down the street… Although, I have to agree, where are you going to get regular access to flowering tea supplies, socks in bulk, and pickle barrels?
Yah, it’s sooooo annoying that in New York City, where Ellis Island happens to be located, people of different ethnicities want to celebrate their rich heritages. Stupid people of color! My advice to you? Go back to Wichita, or wherever the hell you came from that I’d look up if I cared enough about you to waste two more minutes of my life. Stay tuned for the next brilliant observation, “Sometimes the Subway is Icky!”
I don’t expect to find anything to really buy at street fairs, but I still like them! It’s just fun to have everyone outside together, the street closed off from cars, tons of different people in one place. And zeppellis. Can’t go wrong with them.
Ray, you may be right about the police. It was just a theory, based totally on conjecture. I love the “dollar socks” reference! Forgot about those booths.
Tracey, don’t you find it frustrating that you can’t walk in a straight line ever? Also, you can’t really walk with someone, as often the streets and walkways are not wide enough to accommodate.
The Mayor was talking about improving the quality of the street fairs for all these same reasons not too long ago. It probably wouldn’t hurt a bit to send him a note supporting this notion…yes, it’s the stranglehold of the same vendors that turns them all into one big nailclipper festival.
I, for one, love the street fairs because I rarely go out often enough to find one… where else am I going to get that delicious fried corndog? Nathan’s?? Seriously, dudes, corndogs off the street rule. And yes, sometimes the subway IS icky.
I was at the street fair on 5th ave on sunday and it was the same as all street fairs, but there was a local photographer selling some interesting art pieces, I really enjoyed talking to him and eating some awesome corn.
Granted, most of them are exactly the same and mostly pointless, but I always find one thing at a street fair that is new or different. I really enjoy it when the people from infomercials do live infomercials at some of the bigger street fairs(Upper West Side).
You know i never before considered that someone could find street fairs annoying. I guess they just bring me back to my childhood when i would get excited about all the colours, smells, music and people. I think its great that people can celebrate together their heritage/pride/whatever, however you make a really good point in how they all end up as the same genric thing. I guess that turns it more into a time to make money more than celebrate something… hmm… anyways thanks for the blog, it really got me thinking.
You know i never before considered that someone could find street fairs annoying. I guess they just bring me back to my childhood when i would get excited about all the colours, smells, music and people. I think its great that people can celebrate together their heritage/pride/whatever, however you make a really good point in how they all end up as the same genric thing. I guess that turns it more into a time to make money more than celebrate something… hmm… anyways thanks for the blog, it really got me thinking.
For anyone traveling to/from or through the city in the summer, on any conveyance other than the subway, these street fairs and blocked-off streets can be a major annoyance.
And to the asshole who made the reference to Ellis Island and that we should celebrate ethnicities, I agree but then the San Gennaro and every other “ethnic” festival should stick to the ethnicity they are celebrating and not be so greedy for money that they let every street vendor in NYC open a booth. I don’t really want to buy eggrolls at an Italian festival!
And by the way, I am not from Wichita. I am born and bred here, so the only place I can go back to is Brooklyn!!!
Right on, Fern! Good point in paragraph-2.
And, I too am from NY my whole life. I am not sure who that presumptuous asshole was talking about, but it was a dumb claim.
Sometimes the music is good though.
Last street fair I was at I heard “The SawLady”
She plays the musical saw. She was great!
She has a really cool blog too,
http://www.SawLady.com/blog
Cheers!
Sometimes the music is good though.
Last street fair I was at I heard “The SawLady”
She plays the musical saw. She was great!
She has a really cool blog too,
http://www.SawLady.com/blog
Cheers!
Hey, I guess in a big city like NYC, it can get annoying with all the traffic stops, the mess, and stuff like that..but seeing that the city IS big, can’t you just steer clear away from the fairs? All I know, is that in a place like Dublin where there really isnt much to see you and do other than get drunk, city fairs are much welcomed. Maybe we should trade. Dublin will give you more pubs, NYC can give us more cityfests? :)
I would take that trade in a second, Lilijana!