Scenes From The 2015 Church Avenue Street Fair

The Church Avenue Street Fair was a huge success yesterday, drawing about 8,500 people (a couple thousand more than last year!) to our area, where local businesses and organizations joined with other neighbors in a celebration of community that seemed to leave everyone smiling as they chatted with friends and munched on everything from chicken tikka masala to empanadas and corn on the cob — and lots more.

There were many familiar faces at the festivities, which ran from 12-6pm from Coney Island Avenue to Argyle Road, including Community Board 14 Chairman Alvin Berk, Jeff Levinson and Melissa Scott — all of whom were representing Temple Beth Emeth.

The folks from CAMBA were there to talk about their incredible services, from their food pantry to free legal services — and much more.

And, of course, we owe a big thanks to Church Avenue BID’s Lauren Elvers Collins, Divine Muragijimana, and Katie Wauchope for all their incredible work to make sure this year’s fair was a smashing success.

Julia Krenz, of the newly debuted Q Gardens (located on E. 18th Street, just behind the Church Avenue B/Q subway station), spoke to neighbors about the community green space — which volunteers let neighbors know is now officially open for composting and now has compost drop-off hours three times every week. Drop-off hours are: 6:30pm-8:30pm on Wednesdays, 11am-1pm on Saturdays, and 3pm-5pm on Sundays. For more information about the composting, please go here. Additionally, the garden is looking for more compost volunteers. Anyone who’s interested should send an email to qgardensinfo@gmail.com.

The 70th Precinct’s Lieutenant Jackie Bourne and Detective Dominick Scotto joined numerous other members of the NYPD at the event, including the precinct’s auxiliary officers:

During the day, there was a reunion with the 70th Precinct’s Cpops (officers tasked with creating ties with businesses and other neighbors in a specific portion of the precinct) who had been in the Church Avenue area over the past decade. The Cpops have been a contentious issue recently, with Deputy Inspector Richard DiBlasio saying that there remain officers dedicated to creating ties with specific areas, but under a different name, though other neighbors and business owners have said they have seen far less of those community police in our neighborhood. Yesterday, when they came to the Church Avenue fair, neighbor Nathan Thompson, who sent us the following photos of the reunions with the police, wrote to us that it was a “community reunion of sorts.”

Lauren Elvers Collins, of the Church Ave BID, reconnected with Officer Batson, who used to cover Church Avenue.

Neighbor Mary McCrea shared a laugh with Officer Batson.

Officer Stuger connected with the local merchants from Liberty Health Advantage.

Detective Kim Walker, who too used to be a Cpop on Church Avenue, reconnected with Leander Herman and Alex Thompson. Walker, who has sons the same age as Leander and Alex, has been watching over the two neighbors since they could hardly walk and she couldn’t help but compare how they’ve all grown.

Numerous prizes were given out throughout the event, from free food to dance and pilates classes. Here, some of our younger neighbors — Zazel, 8; Millie, 8; and Marty, 5 (and three quarters, he pointed out) — waited to find out who won 10 free tickets for rides from the Church Avenue Business Improvement District, which organizes the annual fair.

The winner? Millie!

During the event, we got to help judge the scrumptious Chicken-on-Church contest, which challenged neighborhood chefs to submit a dish, with the only stipulation being that it included chicken. Participants included chefs from Am Thai, Anarkali, Downtown Natural, El Acuario Restaurant, Golden Krust, Hunger Pang,Mallenche, and Shayna’s.

Hunger Pang’s confit chicken frisee salad.

Am Thai’s fried rice with basil and chicken.

Anarkali’s chicken tikka masala.

The panel of judges included Corner Media Managing Editor Mary Bakija; BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith; Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte; Brooklyn Community Director of Yelp Peter DeNat; Melissa Skolnick, the organizer of the BID’s first food contest; and myself. While it was pretty darn hard to choose a favorite, the winner was… Am Thai!

Shayna’s curry chicken.

Mallenche’s chipotle chicken.

Downtown Natural Market’s vegetarian BBQ chicken.

El Acuario’s arroz con pollo.

Golden Krust’s jerk chicken.

A number of local groups performed by E. 10th Street, including Alden Moves Dance Theater (shown above), Prospect Gymnastics, and Children’s Corner. Alden Moves, which just opened a storefront at 1203 Church Avenue, performed a piece that was all about the rhythms of life on our city streets.

After Alden Moves’ formal dance performance, neighbor Alden LaPaglia led anyone who wanted to join in a dance session.

Many of our neighborhood restaurants were out, serving up their tasty treats, including AmThai.

Anarkali was there too, dishing up food and chatting with neighbors.

Hunger Pang offered specials for neighbors who wanted to soak up some sun and sit outside, including banh mi poutine and pulled pork bao.

Leilah Dione Ezra and guitarist Domagoj Miskovic of EzraGuitar entertained neighbors during the day’s festivities.

The folks at Chabad of Ditmas Park, joined by 70th Precinct Community Council President and Democratic District Leader Ed Powell, got all decked out for the occasion.

Children’s Corner was there to talk to neighbors.

The FDNY was also on hand to talk to neighbors about fire safety.

Our canine neighbors had lots of fun at the fair as well!

Heavenly Angels was there with their adorable pups.

Did you get out to enjoy the fair yesterday, and take any photos you’d like to share? Send them to editor@ditmasparkcorner.com, and we’ll add them to the post. Thanks to everyone who came out yesterday, and we can’t wait for next year!