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Fifth Avenue Street Festival in Sunset draws thousands on ‘picture-perfect day’

SUNSET PARK — In the western part of Brooklyn lies one of the more diverse neighborhoods in the borough. On Sept. 22, that diversity was on full display, as the Sunset Park Business Improvement District (BID) hosted its 25th annual Street Festival — an event whose primary purpose is to promote small businesses along Fifth Avenue, Dave Estrada, executive director of the Sunset Park BID told the Brooklyn Eagle. 

The festival ran from 44th to 59th Streets and featured ample food, music, games, children’s activities, rides and no shortage of vendors and small businesses looking to make their presence felt.  

“All along Fifth Avenue, you’ll find a variety of people from a number of Latino and Hispanic countries — Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central America — it’s really an incredible melting pot of cultures,” Estrada said. 

“When we run this street festival, we’re upholding a long-time tradition and preserving a precious opportunity for people to celebrate our neighborhood’s small businesses,” he said. “But we also want visitors to get a great, old-fashioned New York Street Festival experience with excellent food, shopping deals and amusements for kids.” 

Estrada pointed out that because of the “picture-perfect” weather on Sunday, more than 15,000 people were expected to attend. 

“The festival runs for 15 city blocks, often shoulder to shoulder, and the crowd will turn over three or four times between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., its hours of operation,” Estrada said. 

When asked about the greatest challenges of planning, organizing and executing the festival, Estrada noted that even though it’s been done for 25 years, it’s a challenge every time.

“The event is many months in the making,” he said. “We have to file for permits as early as January. And then we coordinate which weekend is best. We also have to work with the NYPD, FDNY, DOT and DSNY — all of whom bring tremendous resources to help make the event a success.”

As executive director, Estrada is responsible for the BID operations budget and programming.  He works in tandem with his colleague, Cathy Williams, the BID’s assistant director.  

According to Estrada, the Sunset Park BID has a unique role in improving the quality of life and promoting the economy along Fifth Avenue.

“Like all BIDs, we have a sharp focus on supplemental sanitation, graffiti removal and community beautification,” he said. “But we are also well positioned to conduct retail attraction, broader community empowerment and direct consulting services for small businesses.” 

So many neighborhoods have lost the special character that made them notable, Estrada said, adding that Sunset Park still has long-time mom and pop shops side by side with busy, new entrepreneurs.  

“We’re a walk-to-shop community, and I see the same faces on the blocks of Fifth Avenue day in and day out,” he explained. “Sunset Park vividly represents what many of us love most about Brooklyn.”  

Estrada highlighted the neighborhood’s thriving commercial strip, its tree-lined side streets, cultural institutions and shopping deals. 

“In and around Sunset Park you can find a two-acre rooftop vegetable farm, Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn Army Terminal, the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help, NYC’s fastest growing Chinatown, a slew of new Guatemalan restaurants, old-time Irish Haven Pub, a little visited waterfront oasis at Bush Terminal Park and a recycling plant that looks like Willy Wonka’s factory for trash,” he pointed out. 

“Serving Sunset Park is a joy, and I just hope a strong community with proper support will thrive there for future generations,” Estrada said.