The 39th Annual Atlantic Antic was blessed with perfect weather on Sunday, September 29, and that made tens of thousands of festival-goers—as well as the small army of festival planners and volunteers—very happy.
“This tradition is so wonderful because of the sense of community [it brings] and anytime the weather is as nice as this, we’re always happy,” said Tammy Ben-Eliezer-Baxter, executive director of the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation (AALDC), which hosts the event every year.
“This year, there are quite a few new vendors. We have 111 merchants—30 to 40 more than usual,” said Baxter, who added that there were over 500 craft and food vendors present as well. “And we’re crowning [Brooklyn Borough President] Marty Markowitz [as commemorative King of Brooklyn] so we’re happy that we could do that because he has done so much for our organization.”
Markowitz’s crowning came almost mid-way through the day’s festivities, on a stage at Clinton Street. Baxter, AALDC President Christian Haag, and Councilmember Stephen Levin presented a from-scratch golden crown to the outgoing borough president, who told the crowd that “you’ve made my dreams come true and I hope that I’ve helped make some of yours come true, too.”
For Jubi Williams of Carroll Gardens, bringing her daughters Asha, 5, and Lila, 4, to the Antic is “really fun because we get to sample all the local businesses and hang outu with the community.”
Rose, a volunteer with the Boerum Hill Association, agreed, noting that events like these “bring a focus on the area, so people who didn’t know about the organization [and neighborhood] now do.”
“It also shows the diversity of this community,” chimed in Brian Gorlick, of Boerum Hill. “I just had a Costa Rican codfish fritter and a Palestinian falafel with a [friend who is a] native Brooklynite and that is so wonderful.”
“I love these events because it shows love,” concurred Shem Yah of Clinton Hill and the community group, Thank God It’s Brooklyn. “I’ve had food today that I’ve never had before. It’s the little things that make Brooklyn so great.”
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.
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