It was about an hour into the 38th annual Atlantic Antic when the rain arrived. But that wasn’t enough to stop the fairgoers – who descended on the commercial strip in the tens of thousands – from sticking around to enjoy lemonade, crepes, Jamaican food, free helmets, live bands, dancing, and, of course, shopping.
The Antic is the largest street fair in the city, measuring in at a mile long and drawing crowds from around the tri-state area to one of Brooklyn’s most diverse retail and residential areas – stretching from Fort Greene to Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, and Brooklyn Heights.
A smaller, but equally festive and delicious, event was the Smith Street Soup Festival on October 20, which brought hundreds of people out on what was essentially a soup-crawl to 26 local eateries on the cozy commercial strip, from Pacific Street in Cobble Hill/Boerum Hill down to President Street in Carroll Gardens.
Tickets cost up to $20 for 25 tastings and in just three hours, $4,030 was raised – to be split between the event’s two sponsors, the South Brooklyn Local Development Corporation (SBLDC) and the High School for International Studies.
There were four gold ladle winners: Jakewalk for their Kabocha Squash Soup with Maple Creme Fraiche, Angry Wades for their Frito Pie Chili, Shelsky’s Smoked Fish for their Celeraic & Apple Soup with Kippered Salmon, and Seersucker for their Heirloom Tomato Soup with Cheddar Crisps.
The two silver ladle winners were the Squash Soup from Ciro’s and the Red Lentil Soup from Zaytoons. The bronze ladles went to Kittery for their Seafood Chowder, Jolie Cantina for their Poblano Oxtail Pozole, and Provence en Boite for their Soupe de Poissons.
Customer favorites included Oaxaca’s spicy/hot Green Chili Soup, the HS student’s Curried Chicken and Rice Soup, and Lunetta’s unique Ribollita of vegetable and pumpernickel soup with pork crackling and prunes.
The judges included Bette Stoltz from the SBLDC; Marilyn Gelber, president of the Brooklyn Community Foundation; and Molly Simms, senior editor at Bust Magazine.
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