Atlantic Antic returns to a rejuvenated Bklyn
BY BEN BRACHFELD
Atlantic Antic, Brooklyn’s
oldest street festival, returned
for its 46th iteration Oct. 3,
and revelers were thrilled to
be back on the namesake avenue
after the coronavirus pandemic
led to the event’s cancellation
last year.
The festival took over Atlantic
Avenue from Hicks
Street, near the East River
waterfront, to Fourth Avenue
near the Barclays Center, with
great merriment as throngs of
food vendors, knick-knack purveyors,
and performers lined
the thoroughfare. Attendees
went to the circus, rode a
pony, ate all sorts of grub, and
watched belly dancers, drum
lines, marching bands, and
dance troupes perform.
Things were a bit different
this year, though, in light of
the changes in the world since
the last festival.
“By thinking that we
wouldn’t have a full capacity
because of circumstance, it
gave us an opportunity to reexamine
how we were doing
things,” said Howard Kolins,
acting executive director of
the Atlantic Ave Local Development
Corporation, which
organizes and puts on the annual
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soiree, by phone on Monday.
“We started off trying to
socially distance the booths,
so most of them were ten feet
apart wherever possible. And
we were trying to fi ll space but
not completely fi ll the space.
It gave us the opportunity to
have some more entertainment
on the street.”
Kolins said that many vendors
were unable to participate
this year after the shellacking
small businesses have taken
during the pandemic, but estimated
that about 250 vendors
were on the avenue, with approximately
70 percent returning
from previous years, plus
about 50 participating local
businesses with permanent
operations on Atlantic.
His initial estimate for Atlantic
Antic’s attendance this
year, over six hours on Sunday,
was about 400,000 people
or so, fewer than the 800,000
the festival might see in a good
year, but still the size of a city
in its own right and a strong
showing in the middle of a
pandemic.
“It was so much the same,
except you could feel that people
wanted to have a good time,
and they wanted to be out on
the street,” Kolins said. “The
weather was perfect, there
was a very strong feeling of
‘oh my god, this is back! This
is great!'”
“We worked very hard to
fi ll it up, and then I could feel
the crowd going, ‘oh, this is
like it used to be, this is like
two years ago,'” he continued.
“They shopped, they ate,
they drank, they strolled, they
greeted friends. That’s a little
different than any other year,
and certainly two years ago,
because nobody takes anything
for granted anymore.”
Because many normally
participating vendors did not
set up shop this year, vendor
applications stayed open until
about a week ago, Kolins said.
Many schools, nonprofi ts,
and local politicians also set
up shop at the fair. Sen. Chuck
Schumer absconded from
tense budget and infrastructure
negotiations in Washington
to gallivant at the fair.
With health and safety on
everyone’s mind, Atlantic Antic
organizers encouraged everyone
to mask up, maintain
social distance, and use ample
hand sanitizer. Revelers could
also get a COVID vaccine or
test onsite at the fair.
Kolins said that in contrast
to past years, the festival actually
made some money this
year instead of operating at
a loss for the AALDC, which
has hosted the shindig, its
only annual fundraiser, since
1974. That’s perhaps because
of people’s yearning for the return
of streetlife: AALDC sold
out of the T-shirts it had made,
for instance.
“We had a very good event,
a lot of visibility and a lot of
eyeballs on the street. We want
to build on that and diversify.”
Revelers at the 46th iteration of the Atlantic Antic on Sunday, Oct. 3. Photo by Susan De Vries
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