Photo (c) by Hals
So there we were walking along just below 14th Street in that neighborhood that is called...uh...what *do* they call that area? You know, where there's the Strand and Grace Church and some crappy pizza places and that one shoe repair store remaining for 50 miles and that guy's bagel shop that used to have the Internet but doesn't anymore? You know that area, right? Let's call it "Jubfor," the "Jumble Below Fourteenth Street" until somebody corrects me.
I didn't catch the name of the organizers, but it was an exact cookie-cutter stamp of every single other street fair we've seen for years. The funnel cakes. The momo caps. The $1.00 Thai food that turns out to be only a $1.00 because it's microscopic. The Pashnina scarves. And the New York State Lottery with a roulette wheel. Wait, is that *legal*? That, and the Kettle Cooked Corn were the most popular booths, but you know, something is missing. I tried to think what it was as I drank the fresh-squeezed lemonade that I watched the guy make out of a huge containor of ice and liquid, and predictably, it gave me stomach cramps about five minutes later.
Used to be, street fairs had more "character" and weren't all identical. There'd be somebody with funky little antiques or used books, real finds. Somebody else would have homemade granola cookies. Yet another person would have unique art made out of old pieces of broken pottery. Your hardware store might come out and sell flashlights. The whole reason you'd go is because the off-brand remainder socks with the minor flaws, 6 for only $1.00, and who would notice the flaws?
Now, I dunno, I think it must be the high cost of licenses, fees to get a spot, insurance -- something -- the more interesting ones are cut out of the game. Those stalls who can pay are all bland and predictable and doing a mass business in all street fairs, and so I tend to avoid them. I'm not sure how the more original and funky ones could be brought back given the costs, evidently, and the maze of licensing in NYC. Somebody should try to...
The people on stilts weren't even related to the fair, although sometimes you will see those faux "people's" PC big puppets come out to proseltyze -- the stilt-walkers were hawking admissions to a nighclub for boys and girls, but you had to be 21.
Comments