Get Frantic at the Atlantic Antic Today

In case you've been out of borough for months or in a place without internet access, today is the famous Atlantic Antic. The 33rd edition of the Antic stretches for 1.5 miles down Atlantic Avenue, from Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights to Fourth Avenue. It runs from 10AM-6PM. There is food. There is drink. There is entertainment galore. And, yes, there are tube socks. Also, The New York Transit Museum's 14th Annual Bus Festival coincides with the Antic, on Boerum Place. A collection of vintage buses dating all the way back to 1917 will will be on display and ready to board, and there's also free admission to the Transit Museum, which is a block away on Schermerhorn Street. For all the info you need, click here.

Upcoming: Smith Street Funday Sunday

[Photo courtesy of superkb/flickr]


Okay, this is absolutely, positively, the last street fair we note until the Atlantic Antic. We think. It's the Smith Street Funday Sunday, which is taking place this Sunday, June 24 from 11AM to 6PM on Smith Street from Bergen Street to Union Street. It's produced locally rather than by the big firm that does most NYC street fairs. So, the eight block event should have a more local flavor like it usually does.

Also coming up, although not until July 15 is Smith Street's Bastille Day. That takes place from Noon-8PM, with the epicenter being at Smith and Dean Streets.

GL Slideshow: A Little Park Slope Seventh Heaven

The "Seventh Heaven" Seventh Avenue street fair took place in Park Slope yesterday. We covered about half of it and shot some photos in the early afternoon.

Park Slope Reminder: Seventh Avenue Fair Today

The Seventh Avenue Street Fair, better known as Seventh Heaven, is taking place in Park Slope today along Seventh Avenue. It's a bit on the generic New York City Street Fair side for our taste, nonetheless, it's a big neighborhood happening. It runs from 11AM-6PM. It is also one of the last street fairs about which we'll write, except for possibly the Smith Street event and the Atlantic Antic.

Seventh Heaven Coming to Park Slope Sunday

Seventh Heaven is likely to be the last street fair about which we write (other than with annoyance) until the Atlantic Antic in late summer. The Seventh Avenue street fair takes place in Park Slope on Sunday (6/17). We lament the fact that it's one of the city's big and more generic ones (plenty of tube socks if you're needing them, plus the people demonstrating and selling the miracle mops), but it's a big Park Slope event, so it's worth mentioning.

Go Greek on Schermerhorn Street

[Photo courtesy Runs Brooklyn/flickr]

It's time again for the Annual Greek Festival on Schermerhorn Street starting tomorrow, June 4. The festival, which is the 30th Annual edition, runs through June 10. It's at Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Brooklyn, which is located at 64 Schermerhorn between Court Street & Boerum Place. Times are Monday-Thursday 11am-9pm,
Friday 11am-1am, Saturday 1pm-1am and Sunday 1pm-4pm

Here's some of the festival verbiage:

This 7-day event, features your favorite homemade Greek foods and pastries. While enjoying your meal, you will be entertained
by our warm and friendly atmosphere. Shop in our Specialty Greek Foods section, or in our Marketplace. Our A. Fantis Greek Dance Group will perform live, traditional dances on
Friday afternoon, evening and Saturday night. Enjoy a wonderful evening while a DJ provides lively music on Friday and Saturday nights, under the stars in downtown Brooklyn! Raffles, games for the kids, scrumptious cocktails. Bring your family, friends, co-workers to this one week only event!

There you have it.

The Fifth Avenue Fair

Unlike last year's Fifth Avenue Fair, which featured a thunderstorm and downpour, this year's was marked by some great weather. We like the Fifth Avenue Fair because, while you can score tube sock and sunglasses, most of the local businesses come out and represent. We're now totally done with street fairs for the season, with the exception of the Seventh Avenue fair on June 17 and, of course, the Atlantic Antic. If you don't dig the slide show above, you can click over to the flickr set or to the flickr slideshow.

Related Post:
Think Tank Affirms That NYC Street Fairs Suck

Tube Socks Time: The Street Fairs Cometh

Running low on tube socks? Be not afraid, for Street Fair Season cometh. The first South Brooklyn expression of the phenomenon is the Court Street Fair, which happens this Sunday (5/6). It's actually one of the ones we like, along with the Fifth Avenue Fair, possibly because they come early in the season. By the time June rolls around, our instinctive reaction is more along the lines of, "Crap, another street fair." This is not because we dislike street fairs in principle, but because as has been documented, they are all virtually controlled and programmed by the same company, drawing the same groups of vendors.

Inject some neighborhood flavor into these things by loosening the vice-like grip of the company that produces most of them, Mardi Gras Productions, and they would morph from annoyance to something fun. A couple of years ago, WNYC's Brian Lehrer provoked some discussion of the generic nature of street fairs in a NY Times op-ed in which he called the fairs "another cog in the economy, posing as part of the neighborhood." Our favorite analysis comes from the Center for an Urban Future, which concludedthat street fairs are generic and bland.

In the meantime, now that we're done with the burst of negativity, here's a very selective list of some of the notable ones, courtesy of the Community Board 6 calendar and a couple of other sources:

May 6--Court Street Fair, Sponsored by the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation (GCCDC) on Court Street between President and West 9th Streets. 10AM-6PM

May 20--Fifth Avenue Fair. Fifth Avenue between Flatbush Avenue and 14th Street.

June 9--Brooklyn Pride Street Fair. Prospect Park West between 9th and 15th Streets.

June 17--Seventh Avenue "Seventh Heaven" Street Fair. 7th Avenue between Flatbush Avenue and 15th Street.

June 24--Smith Street Fair. Presented by the South Brooklyn Local Development Corporation on Smith Street between Bergen and Union Streets.

September 30--The 33rd Annual Atlantic Antic on Atlantic Avenue.

Related Post:
Think Tank Affirms That NYC Street Fairs Suck