In a turnaround from prior plans, the Santa Rosalia festival will run for as many days and as many blocks along 18th Avenue as it had previously, but it will be held in the middle of August, instead of the end of the month, which community activists hope will ease problems that have been associated with the long-running event.
The new dates for the feast are August 14 through 24, according to an application filed by organizers with Community Board 11.
The change in timing was announced at CB 11’s March meeting, by board Chairperson William Guarinello, after the board worked with organizers to come up with a scenario that would be beneficial for them, and for neighborhood businesses and residents as well.
“They need the length,” Guarinello explained. “We will see how it works this year, but we think having it in mid-August is going to ameliorate a lot of things, since a lot of people are on vacation.”
In the past, there have been complaints about mounting trash at the street fair, as well as about the protracted vehicular closure of 18th Avenue, which hurt some of the small businesses along the thoroughfare, who lost business in a busy time for them, right before school opens, said Guarinello.
In addition, said Guarinello, the old timing – right before Labor Day – was difficult for the city’s Police Department, which deploys significant additional manpower over the holiday weekend in conjunction with the West Indian Day Carnival along Eastern Parkway.
With the new arrangement, Guarinello told board members, the organizers will be “stationing one cleaner per block,” and there will be “waste containers storing all the garbage.”
Also, he said, the board had asked organizers to increase the cultural aspect of the festival – known for its array of street food and blocks of midway games and rides. “They were amenable to that,” Guarinello noted.
By press time, the organizers of the event had not responded to a request for comment.
