Sunday brought a slew of scattered storms. Plainview-Old Bethpage was unfazed.
Over a thousand people came out to the fifth annual spring festival organized jointly by the Plainview-Old Bethpage Chamber of Commerce and LI Fairs despite the occasional pouring rain and constant afternoon drizzles.
“The truth is, you can’t predict the weather. It’s just a little shower to cool everything off,” said the smiling David Weinstein, Chamber of Commerce president. “People still come out.”
He added that the chamber was also using the event to fund-raise for local charity Jericho Cares, estimating it would raise over $1,000 for the organization through the raffle that day.
“It’s great that even with an ominous forecast, all these people still came out,” said Barbara Mars, an administrator for the Chamber of Commerce, who emphasized her gratitude to the event’s co-sponsors that included Major Homes, Optum Medical Care, SRG Realty and Jared Sarney and the Law Office of Andrew M. Lamkin.
“My neighbors all came with umbrellas,” Mars added. “People want to come. They expect it now.”
Over 100 vendors and food trucks, around 40 of which were businesses based in the area, stuck it out through the rain to serve the community, including Busto’s, a martial arts school in the hamlet and local handcrafting, crochet, hand bag, baked goods, soap, jewelry and clothing businesses.
“It’s just a cool atmosphere,” said Kianah Spruill, owner of ATL Bussdown Cakes. “’I’ve met a lot of good people, had some great food and there’s a lot of new vendors out here. It’s going great.”
Nassau County Legislator Arnold Drucker, who was also in attendance, echoed Spruill’s sentiment..
“It’s been great, as it always is, year after year in this wonderful community of ours,” said Drucker, who lives in the area and added that this was his ninth time at the festival, which used to operate in the fall. ”The weather, unfortunately, has kept some people away but it never dampens the enthusiasm of people out here.”
A handful of community groups performed on the festivals stage through the showers, including Strut Your Stuff Dance, Champion Martial Arts and Take a Bow, surrounded by a circle of the island’s premier food trucks like HowUDogin’, Extreme Empanadas and Cone and Go as well as trucks selling cotton candy, roasted corn, funnel cakes and lemonade next to stalls hawking homemade knishes and barbeque sauces.
As the rain picked up, crowds gathered under a big white tent pitched in front of the stage, moving away from the kids zone, which included a handful of free-to-use bouncy houses and a rock climbing wall.
“It’s a lot of fun. There’s booths, there’s food stands, there’s bouncy houses for the kids. My kids are having a blast,” said Julie Herman, a first-time festival attendee who moved to the area last year.
“It was nice to see so many local Long Island businesses,” she added, saying it allowed her to pick up brochures and learn about stores in the area. “There were a lot of cute tchotchke places. My kids got a couple of gifts for my mother for Mother’s Day.”
“My kids still had a great time despite the rain,” she added. “We’ll definitely be back next year.”
