October 21, 2021
M.M. Caballi
Name a quintessential outdoor New York City event that can combine things as random as Italian zeppole, Nepali funny packs, elected wannabes, and Peruvian parkas.
If you are thinking street fair, you are correct!
On Sunday, October 17th, hundreds of New Yorkers happily strolled a portion of Broadway on the Upper West Side for a day of street shopping and joyous rummaging. The fair stretched from 96th street to 102nd for the better part of the day. The weather was nice, and the faces showed it was a good time.
The fair featured dozens of booths offering all sorts of cool stuff. If you’ve already been to one, you know what to expect. But if you haven’t, a New York City street fair is pretty much as the city that hosts it: a melting pot of diversity, in which one can find the most inspiring, clever, exotic and unusual things. Even if your budget only allows for a modest expenditure, at a fair, a couple of dollars can get you a nice ring, a bright nail polish, a glass of lemonade, or a piece of funnel cake.
Among the things that caught these eyes were the decorative statues made of nuts and bolts, which included small motorcycles in silver and bronze, little men playing the saxophone and long-haired female flutists. Crocheted stuffed animals and all things knitted were ubiquitous and contributed to fuzzy up the outdoor gathering in preparation for the colder months ahead. Also all over the place were iconic images of New York City, like covers of the New Yorker, pop-culture posters, and vintage images of the city from way back when.
My companion, a sixteen-year-old Manhattanite and first-timer at a street fair, was amazed at the display of the cute and the colorful. “Here you’ll find things you don’t need and things you want to have, and these are usually the same things,” I warned her wisely. At the end -but not before some thoughtful deliberation- Amanda couldn’t help but pay tribute to her hometown and spend all the money in her pocket on New York-related merchandise: An elegant New Yorker frame depicting the Empire State and an orange cat, and a T-shirt with a gritty subway photo from the 80s. Good choice, I thought.
And let’s not forget about the food. The aromas of all things cooking at a street fair fill the air and stick to your hair, and you just don’t care. The culinary offerings reflected, of course, the multicultural quality of New York City, so the variety was impressive. Think tacos al pastor meet fried oreos and empanadas at the intersection of bratwurst and sauerkraut. Yum!
(If you haven’t been to a street fair this year, there’s still time. For more information click here.)
