You can’t rain on Mineola’s parade two years in a row.
The Mineola Street Fair is set to return to Jericho Turnpike on Sunday, Sept. 10 after rain caused organizers to cancel it for the first time ever last October.
This year will mark the event’s second time on Mineola’s major thoroughfare, where it moved in 2015.
Organizers are confident they can build on the momentum they’ve gathered in recent years despite the gap between fairs, said Tony Lubrano, president of the Mineola Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re confident that we’re putting a lot of work into it that we’re gonna be able to bounce back from that,” Lubrano said.
The annual festival draws hundreds of people to Jericho Turnpike, which will be lined with vendors and representatives from local businesses and community organizations.
Many planned new aspects of last year’s fair will carry over to this year, Lubrano said. Stages for musicians and other performers will bookend the fair’s quarter-mile stretch of Jericho Turnpike between Mineola and Nassau boulevards. Kids can flock to inflatable rides on Willis Avenue north of the turnpike, as well as pony rides on a petting zoo south of the turnpike.
Performers will include five bands, Portuguese and Irish step dancers, students from Mineola’s Dance Dynamics dance studio and young local martial artists from Master Jeon Taekwondo.
The Mineola Street Fair was a craft fair in Memorial Park on Marcellus Road before the Chamber of Commerce brought it to Mineola Boulevard in the village’s downtown district. Organizers moved it to the wider Jericho Turnpike two years ago to allow further growth.
The Chamber of Commerce aims to give the fair a hometown feel, unlike others on Long Island that are put on by private companies, Lubrano said.
“Our goal as much as possible is to keep this the Mineola fair, not just another generic fair run by a private company,” Lubrano said.
The presence of local businesses and community organizations — such as the Mineola Junior Fire Department, which will set up its dunk tank again this year — helps with that, Lubrano said. At least 75 of the 140 businesses and vendors represented will come from the Mineola area, he said.
To help connect fair-goers with Mineola merchants, the chamber partnered with MapToons, a Bohemia-based company, to create a cartoon map of village landmarks and local businesses who paid to be highlighted, Lubrano said.
The fair will also help connect people with local services, Lubrano said — Nassau County officials will give out child identification cards, and the state comptroller’s office will be on hand to help residents see if they have any unclaimed money from the state.
As with any event he plans, Lubrano said he won’t be able to “breathe a sigh of relief” until he sees “ the sun shining and the streets full.”
“But also at the same time … we’ve done very well with this event every year we’ve done it, so why should this year be any different?” he said.
The Mineola Street Fair will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10, on Jericho Turnpike between Nassau Boulevard and Mineola Boulevard and Willis Avenue between Washington Avenue and Pomander Road.
