Exploring the Brooklyn Mela on Coney Island Avenue

The annual Brooklyn Mela took place on Sunday afternoon celebrating Pakistani independence, culture and people with thousands of visitors from around the metro area.

Below the cut are pictures and experiences from the event.

The Council of Peoples Organization draped their building in an enormous American flag.

The clothes on sale were beautifully made.

Toward the end, the young men at the festival waved flags and chanted for Pakistan.

The police were present in force but, as far as I saw, not needed.

The FDNY looked on. While I was here, I overheard construction crews plotting the take-down of the event that had just ended.

“The cops aren’t going to help us deconstruct it,” explained one construction worker.

“If they were smart they would. They’d be able to leave earlier,” said the other, exasperated.

Families trekked to the Avenue H and Newkirk Avenue train stations to make their way back home.

It was also one of the few days that CIA is shut down for a stretch. For a short time, that means it’s unusually empty, as this photo from neighbor Donald Loggins shows.

In addition to exploring the sights and sounds of the festival, I learned the hard way that Sunday was a bad day to order pizza for at least two reasons. First, the delivery man called me up cursing because of all the street closures surrounding the Pakistani parade on Coney Island Avenue. Second, there was enough good Pakistani food being cooked on Coney that as I was eating the pizza, I smelled Eastern spices and felt idiotic.

All told, I spent an hour and a half at the festival. It was a very good time. It’s amazing to me that I’ve lived here for my entire life and have never really explored the celebration.

Did you visit the festival this weekend? Send pictures to ditmasparkcorner@gmail.com, add them to the Ditmas Park Corner Flickr group or add a comment below. We’ll gladly post pictures and comments on the blog!