What do you do on a Thursday night in Astoria? Attend the local street fair, of course! A portion of Ditmars Boulevard has been shut down for the weekend to celebrate the Feast of San Antonio Abate. I can't tell you much more about it (there's not even an entry in
Wikipedia), but it's a very festive place to hang out, as SFS and I discovered last night. Here is the entrance to the festivities, about 2 blocks from my apartment.
This is set up right behind the raffle drawing booth. I'm not sure if the statue is a part of the raffle, because there are dollar bills tied to ribbons hanging all over it... but I didn't buy a ticket, so I guess I'll never know!
No street fair is complete without rides, right? I guess I was spoiled at
Cedar Point, because the idea of getting into this contraption scares me to death! It's not even anchored in the ground, people!
But not everything at the street fair is so scary- take for example, Soak the Bloke. Where else can you dunk a taunting clown in a tub of water? Judging by the crowds, this was a BIG hit!
(Ba dum bump!)
Of course, some people would rather take home a prize after throwing some balls... thank goodness Chuck's Critters were there. Depending on how well you did, you could win a hermit crab (with a snazzy painted shell, I might add), or an iguana.
Chuck also had a goldfish truck...
Now, if throwing balls isn't your thing, feast your eyes on these babies... first, crossbow!
Or skee-ball...
Or fishing...
Or even water gun shooting.
No matter your preference, there were plenty of ways to win some plush little friends.
(I'm sorry, but it was cracking me up that all these poor Kermits needed new buttons on their overalls!)
How about a little dancing? There was a band tent, along with an empty street corner reserved for those who decided to bust a move.
And if you were in a more artistic mood, there was a booth for making sand art.
Check out that crazy bottles- plus, the colored sand even had GLITTER in it.
How's THIS for crazy? You could have your picture taken in the BIG chair. There were plenty of BIG props to go along with it, including fake ice cream cones and booze bottles. The photo alone was $8, but for an extra $2 there were some decorative frames to choose from. Wouldn't that make for an interesting Christmas card?
But what's a street fair without some yummy treats? There was a Pina Colada truck that offered free refills with the purchase of the glass.
I loved the color combination the Lucy's truck had going on... and SFS was mesmerized by their roasted hot peppers.
Mmmm... meat!
I don't really like sausage, but this smelled SO good!
As did the different kinds of kabobs.
I loved all the portable gyro meat spinners... quite a few tents had one of these!
There was a candy tent, complete with candy apples...
And candy covered marshmallow kabobs!
And here is something I was first introduced to at the Texas State Fair... fried oreos! This poor guy's job was to mix the batter...
And this guy was working hard to keep the oreos coming... there was quite a line!
As the sun started to set, we decided it was time to go home.
But don't worry, I wasn't too sad to be leaving... because I'll be walking through it all again tonight! Yep- I actually HAVE to walk through the street fair to get home- just one of the many quirks of living in NYC!
