Tulip Avenue was filled to the brim with residents in a particularly festive mood Friday evening.
“Everybody looks forward to this. Everybody knows when it is,” said Shane Parouse, the president of the Floral Park Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event with the support of the village. “We don’t even advertise it outside of Floral Park. Everybody here knows about it.”
He said the chamber has been holding the street event for as long as he can remember. It began as a celebration in anticipation of the formerly nearby Belmont Stakes, he added, kicking off the start of a festive, party-filled weekend.
“For decades, there’s been a party here the night before the Belmont Stakes where we close the streets down, kids can come out and play in the street, and families can bring their strollers, and older folks can enjoy their evening,” he said, adding that the community was looking forward to the race’s return in the coming years. “Everybody in the community gets to enjoy the night here. There’s games, there’s food, there’s drink. It’s a lot of fun.”
Dozens of local businesses, promoting goods and services ranging from handcrafts to realty to baked goods to dog grooming, had a booth at the event. Many, like Somatic Greek Massage and Spa, have a storefront less than a mile away from their fair booth.
“We’re having a good time,” said Cameron Richards, the massage business’s owner. “We’re meeting the people of the community and letting people know that we exist.”
He said the business, which is a member of the chamber, has been in Floral Park for 15 years, but this was their first event, as they have never previously had enough staff to man a booth. He and a co-worker were offering massage demonstrations for anyone interested.
Parouse said the street fair was beneficial to the chamber’s businesses and those who chose to participate in the event.
“Of course, the businesses right on the avenue see a lot more business tonight,” he said. “For restaurants in particular, summertime is slow for them as people go to the beaches, so they get a boost of business here. For the other vendors who show up and take booths and promote their businesses, hopefully, it helps them get their name out there.”
Residents were treated to food and drink from local restaurants like Uptown Taco and Jack Duggan’s Irish Pub, alongside classic fair food like popcorn, funnel cakes, hot pretzels, sausage and peppers, roasted corn and lemonade. Other tables served up traditional Italian cookies and pastas, which people strolled through the streets eating while listening to a handful of cover bands and DJs play through the afternoon until after the sun set.
Many local organizations used the massive turnout to raise funds. The nonprofit Tumbleweeds Foundation, which supports local families in need and raises money to support those with the rare craniofacial condition Treacher Collins Syndrome, ran a dunk tank, asking for a few dollars per ball thrown. Further up the block, the Floral Park-Bellerose Education Fund, a nonprofit that fundraises for educational initiatives in the elementary district, held a raffle and interactive games to raise money.
“I just think this event is reflective of the community as a whole,” Parouse said. “The term close-knit community is kind of cliche, but it really applies in Floral Park, where it’s small enough that people really know each other, it’s big enough that it’s fun and we go out of our way to have a good time. We like to put on a party.”
