Port Promenade makes its 6th annual return to the streets of Port Washington, bringing along with it outdoor eating, games, and music.
On Thursday, July 17, the Port Washington Business Improvement District and Chamber of Commerce held their Port Promenade street fair on upper Main Street, between Port Washington Boulevard and Mackey Avenue, with numerous local businesses setting up tents to broadcast themselves, as well as restaurants setting up outside dining.
“It brings the community together and it spotlights all of our unique businesses, giving them an opportunity to meet new customers,” said the executive director of the Business Improvement District, Holly Byrne. “Very often when you’re walking, you’ll pay attention to the places that you see rather than just driving by them so fast.”
Port Promenade started in 2020 in response to COVID-19, when people were not able to dine together inside. The event allowed restaurants to set up outside seating. The festival, originally named “Port Outdoors” until around 2023, occurred six times in its first year and then 12 times the next. The street fair grew in attendance and scale until now, when it occurs twice a year, with the first this year occurring on June 12.
This year’s street fair included new activities such as a silent disco, where participants danced to music together while wearing headphones, and a large foam party. The street was somewhat broken into different sections, with one oriented to children, including mini golf, chalk drawing, games, and the aforementioned foam pit.
The rest of the block consists of a non-profit section for various non-profit organizations and a more athletic area with a tent for the Long Island Roller Rebels, a roller derby organization that is new to Promenade.
Spread throughout the street were a series of outdoor dining areas for different restaurants and live music, with some musicians coming from Homebrew Music, a network of musicians looking to grow. Andy Shaffer, the non-profit’s director who performed with his band “Lions of Winter” at the event, explained the organization has always participated in outdoor occasions with no plans to stop.
“I try to make it better every year, but I don’t make myself crazy,” said Shaffer. “I’m not trynna change the world, I’m kind of just having a good time with music and my friends.”
Landmark on Mainstreet, a community event organization that collaborated on the event, is holding another event, Summerfest, on July 27 at Sunset Park in Port Washington.
