Festivals for every taste on streets of the Big Apple
YOU CAN’T cross a New York street in summer without hitting a fair or festival. And if you love music, dance, food and cultural experiences, you’re in luck. Here are some of the best this season. (6th Ave. between 48-49 Sts.; circle.org)
This packed annual street fair near Rock Center showcases some of the hippest purveyors of artisan Jewish food. And there’s an added piquancy this year: Workmen’s Circle, an activist organization, is accenting diversity, with Jewishy mashups like Indian-style latkes and matzoball-soup dumplings. Among the 30+ vendors: Foodie faves like Kossar’s Bialys, Mile End Delicatessen, Brooklyn Brine and La Newyorkina.
You may not know Tuffy Tiger, but the Brooklyn-born puppet’s a celeb among the under-8 set. Tuffy, along with “Star Wars” characters, roving hand puppets and storytellers, should make this an animated afternoon in Park Slope. Children can learn about puppetry and puppet-making crafts at workshops, and the first 200 kids at J.J. Byrne Playground get a free goodie bag filled with puppetinspired surprises. (Great Jones St. between Broadway & Lafayette St.; naaponline.org)
“Everyone is welcome!,” say organizers of this lively street fair, presented by a long-established Arab networking group in the Noho section of Manhattan. A celebration of Arab and North African cultures, the festival spotlights these communities’ contributions through food, music, art and literature. An all-day stage show will feature performers representing North Africa, the Persian Gulf and Levant (an area in the Eastern Mediterranean). And vendors will offer everything from food, music, films and clothes to henna and (Governors Island; tickets from $45; jazzagelawnparty.com, check site for times and details) (Brighton Beach Ave./Coney Island Ave., Brooklyn; brightonbeach.com) hookah. This is one of the city’s most colorful street festivals. (Kew Gardens Cinemas, and other venues across Queens; kewgardensfestivalofcinema.com)
Queens has become a kind of Hollywood East, with movies and TV shows shooting across the borough. So it’s the perfect home for this 10-day fest, which will screen more than 100 indie films. Tickets start at $16 for screenings — $13 for seniors — but there are terrific free events, like an outdoor screening at the Queens Museum. (Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza, 209 Joralemon St., Brooklyn; brooklynbookfestival.org) Doubts about the future of the written word may get put to rest after a walk through this massive annual festival. Hundreds of publishers — from giants to indies — hawk their wares here. Stars like Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie have dropped by in previous years. And notyet-famous authors gaze hopefully from tables bearing selfpublished titles. This year, the Brooklyn Book Festival will also host a Children’s Day on Sept. 16 at MetroTech Commons, with spotlight on the world of kid-lit.