NHP Street Fair survives rain, sun draws crowds

Richard Tedesco

In the end, the heavy morning rain and winds gave way to a sunny afternoon and the New Hyde Park Street Fair drew 15,000 people to the village’s annual showcase.

But getting there wasn’t easy.

Tony Ciuffo, president of Queens-based Craft-A-Fair, the company that organized the vendors for the fair, credited the fair’s success with the New Hyde Park Board of Trustees for hanging in as they tracked the weather and made an announcement around noon that the rain would soon pass.

“It was a courageous decision to stick it out,” Ciuffo said.

Ciuffo, whose crowd estimate put this year’s attendance at about half of last year’s fair, said most of the 215 outside vendors who signed up for space stuck out the adverse weather conditions as did the 75 or so local businesses that participated.

He said he was aware of only two or three vendors who pulled up stakes from their booths at the fair, which stretched along Jericho Turnpike from New Hyde Park Road to Covert Avenue. He said he was certain more vendors would have packed it in without the trustees’ weather alert of clearing skies. 

“We struggled through the torrential rain and gusty winds and we still came through,” said Village of New Hyde Park Mayor Robert Lofaro. “In the morning with the rain, we lost a lot of folks. But after the rain we drew crowds that were equal or nearly equal to past years.”

A playground of inflatable rides set up in a parking lot across the street from New Hyde Park Village Hall was a casualty of the rainstorm. 

But the Village Beautification Committee drew more than $800 in raffling off a pair of Jet Blue tickets for $5 a piece in front of Village Hall. The winner was Luigi Squillante, past president of the Sons of Italy Cellini Lodge, which had vacated its space next to the beautification committee when the rains came.

“It was kind of touch and go this morning. But I think the balance of the day is pretty good,” said village Trustee Lawrence Montreuil.

Ciuffo said, all things considered, the crowd drew “a very respectable amount of people for a one-day street fair.”

He said he had already contended with an additional vendor handicap – losing space for 50 vendors to the medians recently installed in the middle of Jericho Turnpike as part of the state Department of Transportation’s upgrade and resurfacing of the roadway. 

SweeTart Bakery, New Hyde Park’s new bakery on Jericho Turnpike, was doing a brisk business selling treats at sidewalk tables. Down the street and across the way, workers manning an outdoor counter in front of Gino’s Pizzeria & Restaurant said business was “pretty good.”

Peter Mesendrea, a member of New Hyde Park Fire Department Active Hook & Ladder No. 1, said the fire department was doing well selling calendars for a raffle.

“I’m glad we didn’t leave,” said Stewart Small of the Greater New Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce, who was manning a Metropolitan Life Insurance booth. “The sun comes out and the smiling faces come with it.” 

Down the street at the New Hyde Park Gladiator Fund booth, fund president Dan Connor said it was “very busy” with people making contributions for a raffle and buying corn on the cob. The money raised at the fair will go to support the Gladiator Fund’s cause of giving donations to families with urgent medical needs.

At the booth for New Hyde Park Boy Scout Troop 298, the scouts said they were selling a lot of American flag magnets for $3 apiece. But selling flags wasn’t their main purpose

“We’re here more for the presence,” said Howard Leeds, one of the troop’s scoutmasters.

Nearby, members of the New Hyde Park Memorial High School Model UN said sales of henna tattoos, rainbow loom bracelets and tie-dye T-shirts to support the group’s trips to attend Model UN conferences out of state also doing well.

“Now that the has passed it’s great,” said Justin Lomagistro, who was directing his students from Phoenix Mixed Martial Arts in demonstrations of their skills  

Jainy Thomas, whose English Skills Center will be opening in two weeks, said she was drawing a lot of interest.

The nearby petting zoo on Lakeville Road provided by Green Meadow Farms in Little Neck was drawing a lot of interest with its small menagerie, which included a giant tortoise.

Politicians running for office were also on parade, including incumbent Nassau County Legislator Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park), incumbent Town of Hempstead County Clerk Maureen O’Connell, incumbent Republican Town of North Hempstead Councilman Angelo Ferrara and his Democratic challenger Sidhartha Nathan.  

Ciuffo said as a “good will gesture” all the vendors who stuck it out, and those who bailed out early, would be given a $35 discount from the usual fee of $85 for space at next Sunday’s Hewlett-Woodmere Street Fair.

“All’s well that ended well,” Ciuffo said.

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