On average, the Big Apple holds one street fair each day. Three years ago, the Center for an Urban Future, a think-tank that investigates issues affecting the City, issued a report asserting that “there are so many of them that any sense of novelty is gone, and that they create clogged streets and unbearable traffic.”
Street Fair in Brooklyn
Not much has changed since the report was written. This year’s summer expects about 110 street fairs, of which less than a dozen are enticing enough to be considered must-sees. The half-dozen listed below will give you your street fair workout, but if you think there’s more we’re keeping you from, consult our own list.
Street Fairs Worth Walking About: June to August 2009.
Taste of Times Square, June 8th (West 46th Street between Broadway & 9th Avenue); Museum Mile, June 9th (Fifth Avenue between East 82nd and East 96th Streets); Make Music New York, June 21st (West 45th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues), Heritage of Pride Street Festival [not the whole parade] , June 28th (Hudson Street between Bethune to 13th Streets)
Harlem Week Festival, August 15th, 16th (West 135th Street between 5th Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue), West Indian Day Parade, September 7th (on Eastern Parkway, from Grand Army Plaza to Atlantic Avenue)
Most of these street fairs are on the island of Manhattan.
Off the Beaten Pavement 