Swarming crowds, cheap goods, fried everything, bad music: street fairs in New York, which seem to spring up constantly and often for no good reason, are becoming a pet peeve of mine. Now some fairs are fun, unique ones like Bastille Day or the BBQ Block Party come to mind, but most are bland and simply annoying.
It ends up I am not the only one harboring ill feelings, local blogger Gowanus Lounge sited a think tank study a couple years back that concludes:
“The fairs are 'bland and generic' events that 'do not reflect what's unique about New York City.' It finds that fairs are 'dominated by a handful of the same vendors selling items like tube socks, knockoff purses and gyros, and that a surprisingly high percentage of vendors are based outside the city.' The report says the city should make changes in street fairs that would include more city-based entrepreneurs and artists.”
Photo from flickr
But what do you think?