In many of our greatest novels, there is a scene where the protagonist saunters along Main Street on a Sunday morning, meeting and chatting with his neighbors or simply enjoying human contact provided by his community.
In James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” Leopold Bloom walks through Dublin. In “Faustus” by Goethe, the main character spends time walking about the town and saying his hellos but evidently that was not enough for him since shortly thereafter he made a pact with the devil who promised him ultimate bliss if Faustus would sell him his soul.
In Jean Paul Sartre’s “Nausea,” the only pleasant scene in the entire novel is when the main character walks along the street on a Sunday morning seeing his happy neighbors going to church.
In Virginia Woolf’s short story “Street Haunting: A London Adventure,” she walks halfway across London in search of a store to buy a pencil. She admits that she uses this benign quest merely as an excuse to enjoy the spectacle of street life just as golfers golf as an excuse to be outdoors and enjoy a splendid walk on freshly mowed grass.
And so it is with our street fairs, one of which I briefly attended Saturday in Williston Park. The Williston Park Street Fair provided the local residents with a chance to turn off their televisions, leave their homes and go down to Main Street to see exactly who else lives in Williston Park.
And from the looks of things, Williston Park is a diverse community filled with a mix of Asians, Indians, Hispanics and Caucasians. There were teenagers galore, young mothers pushing strollers and young dads dutifully following behind. And what did they see?
In “Street Haunting” Virginia Woolf wrote “for the eye has this strange property: it rests only on beauty.” She might have said the same thing about ears because there were plenty of beautiful things to hear at this street fair.
Singers in front of Williston’s belted out old Fleetwood Mac tunes like “Rhiannon.” I heard a cool looking Mariachi band sing some songs in front of Margaritas and there was a Flamenco dancer tapping away in front of Sangia 71.
I passed by Frantoni’s and met Mike Mistretta, its owner, along with his gorgeous wife and three well-mannered kids. Next door to Frantoni’s was Fresca Creperie, where I stopped to get a mocha fresco. On the way back I met Lauren Marzo, who is the charge of public relations for the Herricks Players, who are putting on “The Sound of Music” in November.
She told me that since COVID attendance has been down because people got out of the habit of attending local theater productions. That’s a shame since I recall reviewing their production of “Young Frankenstein” many years ago and learned that the actors in our local productions were all former Broadway actors and actresses.
Street fairs are simple and gratifying affairs. We meet our neighbors as well as our storekeepers. It is a human experience where everyone is smiling, breathing fresh air and getting a slight sunburn in the process.
Virginia Woolf took her walk through the streets of London at 5 p.m. in the winter. I am luckier than her. I got to take my walk on a sunny Saturday in September, got to chat with Mike Mistretta and Lauren Marzo and got myself a little sunburn along the way.
Quite a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. No need for me to sell my soul to Mephistopheles to purchase more extreme bliss. A street fair in Williston Park is good enough and the price of admission is zero.
