Every year, I miss or almost miss my favorite street fair. It is located arguably in the most bucolic setting in Manhattan – in the West Village, occupying Commerce, Barrow, and Bedford Streets between 7th Avenue South and Hudson Street. There are hundreds of street fairs annually in New York City. However, most of these are run by corporate entities. In 2007, I wrote about these fairs:

This is the typical NYC street fair. To the uninitiated, it looks like fun. However, after doing a few of them, they are very boring. The problem is that you see the same vendors at virtually every fair, most of them of little interest – socks, gyros, small tools, bedding, Peruvian sweaters, imported crafts, CDs, smoothies, T-shirts, etc. The residents I know mostly ignore them, perhaps getting an occasional snack. A recent research group put it perfectly: “The fairs had lost all sense of novelty, catered too heavily to out-of-town vendors and failed to showcase the work of entrepreneurs and artists based in the five boroughs…The worst part is that they are uniformly bland.”

Nothing much has changed. I typically avoid these fairs, yearning for something of quality.

On Saturday, May 19th, I attended the 19th Annual BBC Village Crafts Fair and the 38th “Ye Olde Village Fair” – it was just the antidote to the street fair blues.
The fair is sponsored by the Bedford Barrow Commerce Block Association (BBC), the oldest and largest block association in Manhattan. It has over 300 members and is easily one of the most active community organizations in New York City. Their efforts include tree plantings, historic building plaques, and the Annual Hudson River Boat Ride.

One of the keys to the quality of merchandise sold at the fair is that participants are juried, something that New York City fairs could use more of. Left unchecked, street fairs end up pandering to the lowest common denominator – fast and easy money selling schlock.

In past years, tables were set up for dining. Wine was served – a rare and extraordinary thing in New York, particularly to manage and prevent drunken revelry ala Duval Street in Key West, Florida. There is live music, fresh lemonade, and homemade ice cream. Vendors of quality crafts line the tree-shaded streets. This year’s festival was also blessed with absolutely perfect weather. I was transported to Another Time 🙂