'Fabulous' Park Slope Street Fair Returns Sunday After COVID Hiatus

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A long-running fair is returning to Park Slope this weekend for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

The "Fabulous Fifth Avenue Fair" will bring live music, local merchants and (even more) outdoor restaurant seating to the Fifth Avenue Open Street between Sterling Place and 12th Street from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 15 rain or shine.

In addition to the Open Street's usual slate of dining options and live music, the Fabulous Fifth Avenue Fair will bring its usual showing of hyper-local shopping, eating and street fair activities.

Highlights include an outdoor artist gallery from First to Second streets, puppetry between Garfield and Union streets, kid-friendly rock music between Ninth and 10th streets, and a vintage car show from 10th to 11th streets.

All along the avenue there will also be expanded outdoor seating plus tables and racks filled with local merchandise for purchase.

Organized in partnership with the Open Street, the Fabulous Fifth Avenue Fair — which is returning to Park Slope for the first time since 2019 — makes good on promises that this year's Open Street will be the neighborhood's biggest-and-best yet.

The Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District, which oversees the car-free community space, recently added Sunday dates to the Fifth Avenue Open Street schedule, and is still looking to raise about $10,000 in order to keep events safe and staffed.

The Open Street on Fifth Avenue first opened in 2020, when the city closed roadways to help New Yorkers dine and spend time outside during the coronavirus crisis.

Dubbed "The Other Fifth," the Open Street became a popular destination, staying fully operational even as the city struggled to keep other pedestrian boulevards open.

The space was such a success that it added blocks last season, and received extra resources from the city to open as a "supercharged" (so-called) Open Boulevard.

The Other Fifth will operate from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays in April, July, August, September, and October, and on Sundays in May and June (save from June 19, which is the Seventh Avenue Street Fair).