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Summer Streets on Vanderbilt Avenue – Volunteers Needed — Brooklynian

Summer Streets on Vanderbilt Avenue – Volunteers Needed

danaeo
danaeo
edited November -1 in Prospect Heights
We are looking for volunteers to lend a hand with Summer Streets on Vanderbilt Avenue. Every Sunday in June, Vanderbilt Avenue, from Dean Street to Park Place, will be closed to cars and transformed into a temporary pedestrian plaza from 12 pm to 5 pm.

Summer Streets on Vanderbilt is designed to encourage the community to come together to shop, stroll and socialize. There will be music, art and gardening, face painting, sun and trees, eating and relaxing, biking and performances, people watching - and whatever else you might like to do. Plus a few surprises.

The event, organized by the Vanderbilt Avenue Merchants District and the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council in cooperation with the NYC DOT, is a smaller version of the successful Summer Streets program that ran along Park Avenue in Manhattan last August.


How can you help?
You can help by: setting up and cleaning up on any of the days of the event; distributing flyers and postcards; supervising activities in the “kids zone”; arranging musicians and performers; making a donation to help cover expenses and spreading the word to friends and neighbors. See our contact info below.

What if you want to perform?
We welcome musicians, acrobats, visual artists, etc. We’d appreciate it if you could contact us in advance – especially if you are interested in using our sound system and stage. Otherwise, don’t hesitate to bring out your acoustic guitar, juggling balls or hula-hoops.

Can you sell merchandise or promote your business?
No. This is different than a street fair; we will not have outside vendors. Merchants on Vanderbilt will sponsor activities and have tables set up outdoors. If you live nearby it would be a good day to set up a tag sale in front of your house.

Contact:
Steve Commender
Vanderbilt Avenue Merchants District
The Forest Floor
659 Vanderbilt Ave
(718) 398-7380

Danae Oratowski
Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council
[email protected]
718-398-7978

Comments

  • bkchickie
    bkchickie
    This will be an interesting experiment.

    Since this post was begun by the PHNDC, and the message gives the contact information of the Vanderbilt Avenue Merchants District, I want to write that I'm excited by all the changes in retail activity along Vanderbilt.

    On Monday, however, when I had the day off and time to explore my neighborhood, I was disappointed to see the majority of those businesses closed. I tried to go to Joyce and get some coffee: closed. Then I went down to the new cafe at St. Marks: closed. Then I thought about stopping in to Corduroy Kids for a browse: closed. Then I thought that I finally had a chance to check out the new bike shop: closed.

    I think that the Summer Streets is successful. If so, I hope that the next step would be a coordinated effort to encourage all Vanderbilt businesses to remain open late one night per week.
  • pwaltman_1972
    pwaltman_1972
    BKChickie wrote: This will be an interesting experiment.
    On Monday, however, when I had the day off and time to explore my neighborhood, I was disappointed to see the majority of those businesses closed. I tried to go to Joyce and get some coffee: closed. Then I went down to the new cafe at St. Marks: closed. Then I thought about stopping in to Corduroy Kids for a browse: closed. Then I thought that I finally had a chance to check out the new bike shop: closed.

    I think that the Summer Streets is successful. If so, I hope that the next step would be a coordinated effort to encourage all Vanderbilt businesses to remain open late one night per week.
    What time were you trying to do this?
  • bkchickie
    bkchickie
    pwaltman_1972 wrote: What time were you trying to do this?
    Between 2pm and 3pm on Monday.
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    maybe this is crazy-talk, but one of the things i like about living in brooklyn is that local businesses can still do things like close on memorial day. yeah, sales could be made, but i like that employees get a federal holiday off.
  • bkchickie
    bkchickie
    sweet tea wrote: maybe this is crazy-talk, but one of the things i like about living in brooklyn is that local businesses can still do things like close on memorial day. yeah, sales could be made, but i like that employees get a federal holiday off.
    Yeah, I agree, that's a tough one. While I like the idea of these businesses taking a day off, in theory, it was disappointing that the little bit of free time that I do have to stroll and browse in my neighborhood could not be spent that way.

    I admit that I could make more of an effort on Saturdays, or make more of an effort to discover what (if any) evening hours these businesses have. It used to be customary for a business to have evening hours on Thursday nights (at least in the part of New England where I grew up). I don't know if that's the case with any of these Vanderbilt businesses.
  • danaeo
    danaeo
    I will share your idea of stores staying open late one night a week with the Vanderbilt Merchants.

    More businesses will be opening on Vanderbilt in the next few months, which may generate enough foot traffic to encourage other businesses to extend store hours.
  • underthehill
    underthehill
    This has been done in Williamsburg, but several merchants are against it because they have seen a downturn in sales when the streets are closed since those who would usually drive to that area won't be able to.
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