NYC Summer Street Fairs: Fair, Not Great

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.

 

Island in the Stream

This summer artists, families in search of a quick escape from the city, and adventurers with a knack for nosing out New York’s best kept secrets will be boarding the free ferry that leaves from the Battery Maritime Building at the foot of Manhattan, as they have for the last few years, on their way to Governors Island, the former Coast Guard base that is being converted to public space and parkland through a unique alliance of the National Park Service and the city and state of New York.

The island opens for the season on May 30 with a Family Festival, and recreational programs and art exhibits continue through October. In June comes FIGMENT, the third annual celebration of “participatory art and culture” – more than 400 art projects that you can mix it up with in one way or another. Call it a guilty pleasure, but what I’m looking forward to most is FIGMENT’s miniature golf course, each hole designed by an artist. Last year’s course was only 9 holes – this year it’ll have a regulation 18!

 

The Brooklyn Flea

The Brooklyn Flea (on Saturdays in Fort Greene, Brooklyn) is a flea market for everyone.  There’s treasure hunting.  Are you going to discover a gem in that big, messy pile of beat-up stuff?  There’s food.  Lots and lots of food. Grilled cheese and pickle sandwiches are popular.  So are empanadas and anything from the Red Hook Food Vendors.  There are tunes.  Yesterday, DJ Jay Stewart was sharing the greats from his eclectic collection dating back to the 1940s.  In other words, this is a party.  A big Fort Greene block party.  And you’re invited.   For directions and more information on vendors, see www.brooklynflea.com.

But don’t leave Fort Greene without checking out the neighborhood. It’s home to beautiful row homes, charming restaurants and shops, Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.  Don’t let BAM’s imposing Beaux Arts architecture fool you.  This institution showcases some of the city’s most cutting-edge performance art.  www.bam.org.

 

2009 HBO Bryant Park Summer Movie Festival

During the summer season there are many outdoor film festivals throughout the city and the boroughs that capture the zeitgeist of the Big Apple. The outdoor movie viewing that is the most popular and the most widely attended is the HBO sponsored Monday night outdoor movie festival in Bryant Park.

Bryant Park during a film viewing (Photo retrieved on 5.26.09 from http://www.bryantpark.org/park-management/press/062308-nys.php)

Bryant Park is located on 42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth (also known as the Avenue of the Americas) Avenues and is easy to get to via subway since it is close to both the transit hubs of Times Square and Grand Central. The lawn at the park opens at 5pm and the movie generally starts between 8 and 9pm weather permitting. There is no charge for admission.

Some top tips from a Bryant Park movie fest veteran:

Be sure to come prepared with a blanket and food and be sure you come prepared to sprint to secure your spot when the lawn opens. The early bird truly gets the worm at this summer venue.

Grand Central Market (Photo retrieved on 5.26.09 from http://blog.sanriotown.com/manilafashionobserver)

 If you come with a group of people and want to grab some food while waiting for the movie to begin (you will have 3 hours if you get there once the lawn opens!), there are many shops within walking distance to purchase some movie viewing goodies. I recommend walking to Grand Central Terminal to peruse the many stands at Grand Central Market. Here you can purchase cheeses, breads, meats, fruit, cakes, cookies…practically everything! 

Also stop by Grande Harvest Wines, also in Grand Central, to get a bottle or two for the night…they’ll even open the bottle for you without a corkage fee! If you do decide to purchase a bottle, don’t forget to stop by the Duane Reade, a NYC drug store on 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, to purchase some plastic cups since glass is forbidden on the lawn at Bryant Park.

Lastly, be prepared to stand in some major bathroom lines since these Monday night movies are always at capacity.

Take a peek at the 2009 schedule here and see if there is anything that strikes your fancy. We hope to see you under the stars this summer at Bryant Park!

 

The Bard on Asphalt

One of the glories of a New York City summer is Joseph Papp’s great free legacy of Shakespeare in the Park, where the stars on stage rival those in the sky. This year Twelfth Night runs from June 10-July 12, with such luminescences as bedeviled movie star Anne Hathaway and the extraordinary singing actress Audra McDonald.

Less starry but no less hot – at least until the sun goes down – the Delacorte has a downtown rival every summer at the corner of Broome and Ludlow, where Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, produced by The Drilling Company, opens its 16^th season with  A Midsummer Night’s Dream July 9-25. You may want to bring your own folding chair, but if the gritty setting is less comfortable, and the adjacent street life can impart a jangly counterpoint to iambic pentameter, the actors might just be as compelling as the big names uptown.

The Bacchae of Euripides follows in Central Park August 11-August 30, while Shakespeare in the Parking Lot will also present Measure for Measure July 30-August 15.

Here are links to other companies planning free theater indoors and out this summer-

http://www.gorillarep.org/

http://newyorkclassical.org/

http://www.hudsonwarehouse.net/season.htm

http://www.theatreworksusa.org/free_summer.cfm