STROLL BACK
Ridgeites take to the streets
INSIDE
Your entertainment
guide Page 23
Police Blotter ..........................8
Party Guide............................. 11
Opinion ...................................20
HOW TO REACH US
COURIER L 4 IFE, JULY 23-29, 2021
BY JESSICA PARKS
Bay Ridge residents
fl ocked to the neighborhood’s
streets on Friday for the second
of this year’s Summer
Strolls, marking a return
of normalcy for area businesses
and residents alike.
“I think it was a huge success,”
said local business
owner Bobby Daquara of the
July 16 Summer Stroll.
Daquara co-owns Third
Avenue’s Greenhouse Cafe
alongside business partner
John Keegan, which saw an
infl ux of pedestrians taking
to the streets for the event.
“It’s a step towards getting
back to our lives, and it
was a great night,” Daquara
said.
Friday’s stroll was one
of two hosted already this
year by the Third Avenue
Merchants Association. The
business-boosting group
traditionally holds four each
summer — two on the avenue’s
southern end, and two
on the area’s northern end
— though they were forced
to put the annual event on
hold in 2020 due to the coronavirus
pandemic.
This year’s festivities are
being run through the city’s
Open Streets program,
which were started last
spring to help city dwellers
best utilize open space amid
the outbreak of COVID-19.
The program, overseen
by the city’s Department
of Transportation, coordinates
with local community
groups to bar vehicular
traffi c on specifi ed streets
at the expense of the community
group. All events
that aim to close off streets
for pedestrians must apply
under the new city program
as it requires social distancing
and discourages large
crowds.
The Bay Ridge Fifth Avenue
Business Improvement
District is also utilizing
Open Streets to host
“Fun on 5th.” The events —
which organizers say mirror
the avenue’s previous
“Weekend Walks” — kicked
off on Friday, June 25 and
will continue on stretches
of the thoroughfare on the
last Friday of each month
through October.
Third Avenue’s Summer
Strolls have served as
a smaller iteration of the
beloved Third Avenue Festival,
which typically draws
attendees from across the
borough, since they were
fi rst launched ten years ago
without certainty of success,
according to the former
head of the avenue’s
merchant association, Bob
Howe.
“We didn’t know it was
going to be successful or
if everyone was going to
leave Bay Ridge and go to
the Hamptons or the Jersey
Shore, and we were sitting
on the corner of 82nd and
Third at about 6 o’clock and
there was no one on the avenue,”
Howe told Brooklyn
Paper, “and at that moment
a family turned the corner
and that’s when I realized
this is going to be a great
family event.”
This year’s strolls have,
so far, garnered much of
the same spirit — and the
kickoff on July 9 spanned
even farther along the avenue
than in previous years,
ending for the fi rst time on
Marine Avenue, and incorporating
more businesses
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