Beach 116th Fall Festival Returns Sunday
By Katie McFadden
The chill has started to set in as Rockaway said goodbye to summer, but that doesn’t mean the fun stops. There’s plenty of fun to be had at the 2nd Annual Beach 116th Street Fall Festival this Sunday, September 29.
On Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Beach 116th is the place to be as there will be fun for the whole family. Kids can enjoy things like bouncy houses and other rides, a haunted maze, a pumpkin patch, petting zoo, face painting, arts and crafts, games and more until 4 p.m. Everyone can enjoy shopping around the block in the stores and from more than 40 vendors selling everything from food to Rockaway apparel, jewelry, candles, beauty products, handmade goods and more. Plus, an unbelievable music lineup awaits.
Walker Hornung of Into the Whip Records has curated a concert not to be missed. He’s up first at 12 p.m. with Walker and the Brotherhood of the Grape, the three-piece variation. Then at 1 p.m., Bobby Butler and Danny Mulvanerty of Indaculture take the stage. At 2 p.m., Tiffany Lyons is back in town performing with her band, Slyboots. At 3 p.m., Steve Conte of New York Dolls fame, who has graced the stages alongside superstar acts, will finally be in town to perform his 2021 song, “Gimme Gimme Rockaway,” and others with his band. Derecho, a band featuring Walker’s son, follows at 4 p.m. and new hit performers, Rock Soup, closes out the show starting at 5 p.m. In between sets, a DJ will also be playing music. “We’re psyched for this,” Hornung said. “It’s free, it’s fun, the weather looks great, what more can you ask for?”
After testing the waters with last year’s festival, that wound up being a resounding success, the organizers, including Councilwoman Joann Ariola, the Beach 116th Merchants Association and the Rockaway Civic Association, decided to go even bigger than last year.
“Last year, we were up against some really bad weather until the morning of, not knowing how the turnout would be,” Meat Up Grill and Crustinos owner Michael Fiore said. But last year, the sun came out and so did the people. “I couldn’t believe it, we wound up having over 2,000 people. It was great,” Rob Pisani, owner of Bagel & Barista Station said.
“It put eyes on Beach 116th since it was so successful, and that’s why this year it’s become even easier to expand,” Fiore said. “Last year was really great. That’s why this year the merchants didn’t have to do outreach to vendors, the vendors were calling them asking when they were going to do it,” Councilwoman Ariola said. “Compared to last year, so far, we went from 15 outside vendors to 40 this year. We plan on occupying both blocks of Beach 116th instead of just one,” Fiore said.
Last year’s success made one thing clear, they had to do it again. “It brings so many people to Beach 116th Street and I’m hoping this year is even bigger,” Pisani said. “We’re doing this to make Beach 116th Street better,” Rogers owner Michael McMahon said. “We want to let people know about the great bars, restaurants and stores here and let them know that it’s safe and isn’t as bad as some think it is. See it, enjoy it, experience it. This is something great for Rockaway and we need more stuff like this on Beach 116th to bring out more people.”
McMahon, Pisani, Fiore, Matt Mazzone of Mazzone Ace Hardware and others in the Beach 116th Merchants Association have been trying to do just that, with the help of Councilwoman Ariola’s office and the Rockaway Civic Association. Since she was first elected, Ariola has made it a mission to try to lift up Beach 116th Street. “It was really a focus of mine when I was elected to make 116th Street better and I felt such an affinity with the small business owners who were just coming out of the Covid shutdown, and then they’ve had the Army Corps using Beach 116th as their staging area for their project, and they’ve lost a lot of business because of those things, along with the trouble of it being dirty and emotionally disturbed people walking around when there’s not enough police to have a foot patrol, so we banded together with the merchants and we’ve seen great progress on the block. It’s not perfect, but it’s so much better than it was, and we want people to see that,” Councilwoman Ariola said.
The merchants are grateful for her efforts. “When I brought this idea up last year, remembering the fall festivals in the past, Joann immediately got the permits and got it done,” Pisani said. “Her office is the reason we’re able to do all of this. Between her and Harold Paez at the Rockaway Civic, they really deserve the credit for making this possible.” This year, Pisani also thanks Call-a-Head for donating toilets for the event and Luminescence Production for offering their stage and sound services at a discount.
In addition to promoting the block and bringing out more people, the fall festival also acts as a fundraiser for Beach 116th Street, so the merchants can continue to make improvements all year. “It helps a lot. We’ve been working with the Civic, so donations are tax deductible and we’ve raised $20,000 from the past few events,” Pisani said. The donations have allowed them to continue to put up holiday lights above the block in the winter, and other projects are in the pipeline, including putting grates around the trees in the medians, so people won’t have to step in dirt to cross them and installing a grandfather clock on the divider, among other projects. On Sunday, the merchants will be holding a 50/50 raffle to continue to raise funds for improvements.
“Come out because there will be so many things for people. There’s food, the merchants will have stuff outside, there’s vendors, all these wonderful things for the kids, all in a safe environment as the streets will be blocked off to traffic,” Councilwoman Ariola said. “It’s important that the community comes out and supports our local businesses. This is our off season, and we want to bring attention to all the good things we have all year round.”
