Is Seventh Heaven a “Pestival”?

photo credit: Mary Bakija

Seventh Heaven is upon us, and it sounds like somebody’s a little grumpy about it. In last week’s New York Times Opinion Pages, Jayne Merkel rails against the city’s summer calendar of “street pestivals.”

Planned correctly and scheduled sparingly, fairs and parades can boost neighborhood commerce and civic spirit. But this has gone too far.

She’s not attacking “authentically local events,” which provides the city’s “famous local color” — the problem, Merkel says, is that too many of the city’s 1,500 parades and festivals are interchangeable. Or in her words:

It would be easier to accept most street fairs and parades if they were truly community events. Instead, many are corporate operations, organized by companies like Mardi Gras and Clearview Festival Productions.

For the most part, she’s talking about Manhattan, but it’s worth noting that Seventh Heaven is a Clearview Festival Production. So what do you think? Are you pro-street fair, or are you passing on the funnel cakes and planning to buy your cheap sunglasses elsewhere?