Broadway will be closed starting at noon from 86th to 96th street for the 23rd annual Broadway Fall Festival, a street fair. The Avon Breast Cancer Walk will also wind its way through the neighborhood, although it doesn’t appear that any streets will be closed for the walk, according to the Department of Transportation’s street closure page. The map below indicates that the walk will mostly be on Columbus Avenue and parts of Central Park West.
For more events, check out our weekly events page.
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“Broadway will be closed … for the 23rd annual Broadway Fall Festival, a street fair.”
Oh, WOW! A last chance to buy real-fake pashmina scarves, 10-packs of athletic socks, magic mops, cellphone accessories whih probably will stop working two days after the street fair ends, little screw-driver kits, huge jars of spices you’ll never use, and those weird Chinese bamboo-like plants!
And, of course, to ‘see-and-be-seen’ carrying-around half-consumed ears of roasted corn or skewers of blackened mystery meat. Oh, and don’t forget: Arepas! Arepas!!
i’m with ScooterStan and bravo, and add this: street fairs are the poorer cousin of farmer’s markets.
street fairs are organized into phases—every four or five blocks, the merchandise repeats. people watching is usually pretty good and the only worthwhile part, for me.
the markets: i have stopped checking those closed ‘farmer’s’ trucks that line the streets. inside? onions from georgia peppers from mexico, the same stuff as fairway or gristedes at a higher price.
but i attend anyway, stroll the streets, enjoy the buzz. catch the names of the ‘farms’: ‘green acres’ ‘nightingale farm’, well, you probably noticed yourself.
same producers? maybe.
but i admit that despite what it represents, it’s good nyc show business.
finally, i truly appreciate the local music, when present, and the occasional local artisan selling earrings, clay work or whatever.
i remember, over on 75th street once, a great band of old folks all my age (late sixties) banging out pretty accomplished, soulful rock covers, and big smile inducing music !!
Maybe you should actually visit the fair instead of trash talking it?
Live Jazz, Japanese Choir, and 3 blocks of Japanese food and Crafts seems to be missing from your “review”
Awwe, why not embrace a little festiveness on our otherwise boring streets? C’mon Scooter – meet me there and I’ll buy you an arepa and cheap pair of socks!
and then you both can celebrate your salmonella together at St. Lukes!!
Upper West RULES!
Hey Scooter,
Do us all a favor and stay home then while the rest of us enjoy a beautiful Fall day, strolling through the street festival and socializing with our neighbors. The negativity for a community event is just astounding.
Cyrus, these “fairs” did become an opposite of what they were meant to be. Now they owned by a mysterious producer and a slew of always the same garbage-level product vendors. 10 stalls of cheap sunglasses? And who pays for cleaning up, police presence, traffic re-routing? We do. And who gets the profit? The producer.
Can’t you socialise in the parks? Do we need to clog the streets with nasty tat and appalling food that is the same as every other Street closure market they have around the city every single weekend of the year?
I strolled the length of today’s fair and found the food to be much better than normal street fair offerings. Yes, there was the standard corn, sausage and peppers and arepas. But I enjoyed:
stuffed grape leaves and falafel, chibi pulled pork sandwich, spicy Korean pork, a bauerwurst sausage sandwich and lobster bisque.
Count me as a lover of street fairs!
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Good thing you’re on a diet. sheesh.
Oh man I missed this today.
I agree with the “NO more street fairs” group-
let them have them in a borough that NEEDS the traffic- Broadway is clogged enough as it is and it is hard enough getting around Manhattan on the weekends without these added street closures! We also have to deal with Walks and film crews- which bring benefits to the city- so lets lose the street fairs- I don’t want MY tax dollars paying for the police and the clean-up!
MORE STREET FAIRS, NOT LESS! Sunday’s fair had many unique stands, including exotic spice booths, ethnic foods tents, a tasty smokehouse BBQ stand, and many more that sold interesting things that YOU CAN’T GET IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD ANYMORE. It’s a lot more fun meandering with my family through a festive street fair than it is hurrying past the ocean of banks, wireless stores, and pharmacies that are lining Broadway today. The negativity driving some of you curmudgeons is truly bewildering.
I like the crafty, arty, artisenal street fairs, not the “tube sock and fried dough” ones, although, they too can have their charms.
I think the one a year super big blockbuster type street fairs, like 9th Avenue Food Fest, Atlantic Antic, Second Avenue are good. What is tiresome is the weekly shorter ones that seem to be everywhere blocking the streets and selling the same stuff.
But…but…but… This is the marketplace in action. This is the capitalism you so often champion when anyone complains about the developers and banks overrunning the neighborhood.
If the People didn’t buy anything at these street fairs, the street fairs would choose to go away. They don’t. They come back — *because* people are buying those “tube sock[s] and fried dough” you look down upon. How dare you find the fairs “tiresome” when their success is a celebration of the same unregulated capitalist ethic you constantly tout in these pages??
very passive aggressive Cato.
Yes, I am a capitalist. Sorry if that offends you.
Despite the extreme left’s goal of defaming anyone who does not agree completely with the party line as the bad guys. I am shades of grey.
I have criticized Landlords here, particularly ones that demolish our historic buildings in the name of maximum FAR And for building bland boxes in replacement, like the Friedlands continue to do.
and if you can sell tube socks and fried dough ( I am an adult and chose not to eat fried food , thats just me, you have the right to eat i) then yes more power to you – BUT , this is public streets that are being shut down weekly.
Again this is my opinion. you can have yours too. But again, the personal attacks on me.
No one is more intolerant of others views then those who claim the mantel “progressive”
For the record, I am a registered independent and view myself as a Libertarian.