By Billy Wood
The smell of different foods mixed in with the sounds of music and children walking the streets with face paint means only one thing — the Myrtle Avenue Fall Street Festival was in full force.
On Sunday afternoon, the 30-year tradition, which is organized by the Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District (BID) continued their biannual event.
This is their third event held post-COVID since returning Sept. 2021.
While the events have been fun for locals and vendors the festival has yet to hit the same heights prior to the pandemic.
“The amount of vendors have gone up from 60 percent last year to 70 percent this year,” said Ted Renz, executive director of the Myrtle Avenue BID.
He also said that many vendors have either gone out of business or had supply issues that contributed to the recent low turnouts.
While they continue to recover from the pandemic, locals still took to the street to witness the festivities firsthand. People enjoyed food from all over the world as they watched others compete in a friendly dancing contest.
The children were literally bouncing off the walls from the different types of bouncy houses on Myrtle Avenue.
“This is my first time coming to this street festival in a long time,” said Luis Condo, a local resident for over 20 years. “It is good to see my daughter enjoying herself and that things are starting to get back to normal.”
Renz enjoys seeing the community coming out and going to these street festivals because it gives locals a good taste of the different stores that are available in the area.
Although the event just ended, the Myrtle Avenue BID is already setting their sights on next year’s street festivals as they want to be back to where they once were.
Renz would like to thank all of those who came out and all of the sponsors that helped support the Fall Street Festival
“Shop local and support local,” Renz encouraged the Ridgewood community.
