There were plenty of places on Hillside Avenue for the more than 20,000 people who attended Sunday’s Williston Day Street Fair to spend money.
Williston Park businesses and restaurants, as well as outside vendors, lined the street for the 37th annual event, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce of the Willistons.
Patricia Mendes, who owns Bela Casa Decors at 58 Hillside Ave., said the fair always brings her new clients for her interior design services.
“People get to know our workmanship and they always come back,” Mendes said.
But among all the buying and selling were also many local churches and service organizations, for whom the fair is a big source of fundraising and community exposure.
The Williston Park Fire Department, the American Legion and the Cub Scouts are a few of the local organizations who consistently participate in the fair to raise money, said Lucille Walters, the Chamber of the Willistons’ executive director.
Williston Park and East Williston are “very tight-knit,” Cub Scout Master William Rapp said, and people at the fair are always willing to give. Community organizations in the area also support each other, he said.
“We even give to the veterans’ groups when they come around,” Rapp said. “We just want to build that sense of community.”
Returning to the fair this year were 9-year-old Skye Blau and her lemonade stand benefitting the American Cancer Society.
Blau set up the lemonade stand, which she built with her father Bill, last year after her mother Mary Ann was diagnosed with cancer.
After hearing about a boy who started a similar project, she decided to sell lemonade, iced tea and cookies for $1 apiece and donate all the money to cancer research.
With some of her friends helping out, the stand raised more than $1,100 last year, which they hoped to double this year. Because cancer has affected two members of her family — her grandmother died from the disease — Skye is aware it’s a “significant problem,” said Mary Ann, who is currently cancer-free.
“I know a lot of people have cancer, and I just want to help,” Skye said.
The chamber has been very helpful to Skye and gave her the spot on Hillside Avenue near Stratford Avenue for free, Bill said.
To Walters, having community service booths, such as the Cub Scouts and Skye’s stand, are important to creating the atmosphere the chamber wants for the fair.
“When you bring in the outside service organizations … it makes it feel like more of a family-oriented event,” she said.
That feel is part of what has contributed to the fair’s longevity in the area, Walters said.
For some business owners, such as Steve Mistretta of Frantoni’s Pizzeria & Ristorante, participating in the fair is more about being a part of the community than making extra money.
The pizza parlor at Hillside Avenue and Broad Street, which has been in the fair every year since 1988, charged less for a slice on Sunday than on regular days.
“It’s a Williston Park tradition,” Mistretta said.
