In conjunction with Clearview Festival Productions, the Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District sponsored its annual Myrtle Avenue Spring Street Festival in Ridgewood on April 24, 2022.
Over 200 merchants and vendors had set up shop on Myrtle Avenue from Wyckoff Avenue to Forest Avenue, selling fair staples like turkey legs, cotton candy, and merchandise ranging from trinkets to shirts and spices. Meanwhile, thousands of mostly unmasked spectators strolled up and down the avenue, enjoying the looser COVID-19 rules and the comfortable spring temperatures.
Brave fair revelers had a chance to pose with Charlie Chase’s 4-year-old Columbian red tail boa constrictor Bryklin for a photo-op at $5 a pop.
Chase shared that the festival always opens him with open arms and that he wanted to demystify misconceptions people have about snakes.
“A lot of people have obsessions about snakes,” Chase said. “The worst thing you can trust is the one walking on two feet and that is the human being.”
Dylan Rosado, 19, who posed with Bryklin, described himself as a snake person and shared that he also owns one. But he admitted that he was a tad afraid when the serpent started coiling.
“I’m like, whoa, no, I had to push it,” he said.
Rosado was glad to see that life was returning to normal.
“The festival is nice,” he said. “We get to hang out outside. The food is amazing. It’s really good.”
A long line formed at Luis Perez’s food stand as the smell of Columbian-style barbecued flank steak and turkey legs permeated the air.
With the help of Kent Torres, who translated from Spanish to English, Perez, owner of Rancho Mateo, estimated that he was going to sell around a few hundred pounds of meat.
When asked how he felt about seeing all the people out and about, he responded with a smile.
“Feliz, happy, of course, nobody has to wear a mask any longer.”
Sisters Lesley and Angelina Dominguez checked out the MTA New York City Vintage Bus 3100 from the ’50s and the first air-conditioned bus to operate in New York City.
“[The bus is] super cool. I love the seating,” Lesley Dominguez said. “It’s very interesting.”
Both were still wearing masks but thought it was OK that others had opted out.
“It’s your choice if you want to wear it or not,” Lesley Dominguez said.
Balloon artist Earl Hicks was delighted to see the large crowd out and about.
“Everybody has been anxious to get out,” Hicks said. “And this has been one of the first weekends where the weather has cooperated to be really, really nice.”
As far as the mainly unmasked crowd was concerned, he said he didn’t feel apprehensive since the festival was an outdoor event.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable if this amount of people were inside of a closed building,” Hicks said.
See more photos below from the Myrtle Avenue Spring Street Festival.
