Annual Williston Day Street Fair turns 40

Rebecca Klar
This year's Williston Day Street Fair will feature a hula hoop contest like the one pictured here during the 2017 fair. (Photo by Amelia Camurati)

Antique cars, a petting zoo and local vendors will once again take over Hillside Avenue in Williston Park on Sunday, Sept. 16, for the village’s 40th annual Williston Day Street Fair.

Unlike other street fairs across Long Island that have increasingly turned to outside companies to put on fairs, the Williston Chamber of Commerce is celebrating 40 years of running Williston Day independently.

The freedom allows the street fair to be more than just a “shopping spree,” chamber Executive Director Lucille Walters said.

“It’s like the first big event after the summer time,” Walters said. “Kids go back to school, everything starts going back to normal. You get a chance to see people you haven’t seen … people are away in the summertime, you don’t really see your neighbors and then the street fair comes.”

The street fair will be held along Hillside Avenue between Willis Avenue and the Long Island Rail Road station between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.

More than 200 local merchants and outside vendors will participate. There will also be food, children’s rides, rock and roll bands, dancers, face painting, pony rides, a karate demonstration and hula hoop contest.

Walters, an East Williston resident, has been organizing the event for 15 years, she said.

Over time, it has only grown, she said.

Originally, the street fair was called “Old Fashioned Day” and was a smaller event held on Willis Avenue, Walters said.

A number of years ago it moved to Hillside and expanded an “awful lot,” she added.

The event as it is run now has dividers along Hillside Avenue, allowing for vendors on the left, right and center, Walters said.

Walters expects about 10,000 people to come out on Sept. 16.

To commemorate the event’s 40th anniversary the chamber created about 5,000 Williston Day tote bags for residents to use as they walk throughout the fair and pick up giveaways, Walters said.

In addition to giving a platform for local businesses to showcase their goods and services, Williston Day also gives a chance for local groups to raise funds, Walters said.

Boys Scouts, Girl Scouts, local churches, the historical society and the American Legion are among organizations invited to participate in the fair, she said.

The American Legion’s bake sale is the biggest fundraiser the group puts on all year, Walters said.

“That’s what makes this fair … more community oriented, because it’s the community that’s doing it,” Walters said. “When you have somebody coming in from the outside and they run the fair, I’m not saying they don’t do a good job, they have a different motivation.”

Putting on the fair independently is no easy feat. Walters said she and the chamber start planning as early as March to make sure everything is in order for the fair, which is held the third Sunday in September each year.

This year’s rain date is Sept. 23.

The hard work does pay off, Walters said.

“I have people come to me when we have our fair and say, ‘This is such a great fair, how do you do yours like this,'” Walters said. “I think that’s because we have control over it … I think it’s worked out well for us over the years.”

The neighboring Village of New Hyde Park will hold its street fair on Saturday, Sept. 15.

The Village of Mineola will hold its street fair on Sunday, Sept. 23.

Reach reporter Rebecca Klar by email at rklar@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516-307-1045, ext. 204, or follow her on Twitter @rebeccaklar_.

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