Chamber Preps for Super Fair at Superblock

Story by Jeff Lipton

The Superblock should be teeming with activity this weekend when the city’s first street fair comes alive.

Months of planning by the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and local businesses will be realized on July 20 and 21, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., when the fair is scheduled to take place.

More than 100 businesses will set up booths along the vacant beachfront Superblock property at East Broadway, between Riverside and Long Beach boulevards. About 75 percent of the businesses are from Long Beach, and all of the food vendors are from the city.

“We did extensive advertising,” Mark Tannenbaum, the chamber’s executive vice president, said about drawing merchants to participate in the fair. “We blitzed them with e-mails and on TV and radio, as well as talked about it at our general meetings.

“Since this is our first time ever doing it, we’re very satisfied with the way it is going,” he added. “This is the test run.”

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Another street fair is slated for Sept. 7 and 8, said Tannenbaum. If this pilot is successful, the chamber plans to make it an annual event, he said.

One main reason for organizing the fair is to help businesses bounce back after Hurricane Sandy.

“The idea is to have people come into town to shop and to eat at the street fair and then go into town at night to eat at the restaurants,” Tannenbaum said.

Some of the many retailers and merchants who will set up booths, include all types of food shops, men’s and women’s clothing boutiques, jewelry and sunglass vendors and much more.

To spice things up, there will be a bandstand and a schedule of entertainment. “There will be different groups performing, rubber rides, face-paintings, games and a clown,” Tannenbaum said. “We want to make it a family extravaganza.”

Vendors received a significant discount to set up a booth, with fees running from $125 to $250 instead of the usual $200 to $450 fee. The fair is being set up in conjunction with the Nassau County Craft Shows, which organizes 20 to 30 street fairs a year including events at Eisenhower Park and Garden City.

The organizers of this weekend’s fair are praying for huge crowds and great weather. “In addition to attracting people to the fair from Long Beach and Island Park, we want people to come from all across the island,” said Tannenbaum, who noted that the pressure is on to make it a successful event.

“It’s a proving ground,” he said. “We have to live up to the hype surrounding it since it’s a first-time thing.”

The chamber started planning the street fair last year prior to Sandy and intended it to be stationed on the boardwalk. With several businesses still struggling in the aftermath of the superstorm, it is more important than ever to help boost merchants with special events such as this, Tannenbaum said.

“Unfortunately, some people think that Long Beach is still not in business,” he said. “We want to show everyone that Long Beach is definitely in business.”

He said that about 30 percent of the homes in Long Beach are still vacant following Sandy, but despite this the shops “are doing better than expected.”

Merchants said that holding an event like this is encouraging to business owners in Long Beach.