Rain Holds Off for 2012 Mineola Street Fair

The weather finally held for the Mineola Street Fair Sunday as a year’s worth of preparations went off without delay and the rain stayed off – at least for 4 hours – into the fair.

“Not only is it a beautiful day for Mineola, it’s a beautiful day in Mineola,” Mayor Scott Strauss said. “The chamber starts working on next year’s event tomorrow, so they already start lining things up the next day. It takes a long time to plan this and work this out and it’s a tribute to them that this is as successful as it is today.”

Crews began cordoning off the area at 7 a.m. that morning and Mineola Chamber of Commerce President Bill Greene thanked them for their commitment, saying “It’s great that we can all get together and do such wonderful things” with their help.

Mr Mineola himself, John DaVanzo, was also in attendance with his daughters Judy and Mary, but was also hanging onto an umbrella. “This is just in case,” he said.

An approximate 30 minute shower had descended upon the fourth incarnation of the fair, which was being held in the downtown area along Mineola Boulevard, Second Street and Main Street, shortly after three o’clock, but nothing like what had transpired last year, with the chamber of commerce forced to cancel the initial date due to threat of rain that never materialized and see attendance at lower levels from both visitors and vendors the following week on the make-up.

“We are ecstatic, we are absolutely ecstatic, we are thrilled everything came together,” Greene said. “The weather most importantly, but the outpouring and the amount of business participants and the amount of vendors that we got far exceeded our expectations this year. If you’ve noticed and you look around, you can see they really put a lot of work into promoting their businesses and that’s what the chamber’s all about is promoting the businesses in town. Definitely the street fair seems to be getting bigger and bigger every single year so we’re looking forward to even a bigger one next year.”

The chamber expected about 25,000 to 30,000 people in the area, with many stores setting up booths as well as outdoor displays and dining options. A petting zoo was also available for children to get up close and personal with some pigs, reptiles and llamas. Stages were also set up at the intersections of Mineola Boulevard and First Street and on Second Street and Main Street with numerous live musical acts including Karl “Big Daddy” Reamer & the Bulldogs’s, “A Side of Darkness,” and Mineola native Michelle Ferreira and her full band as well.

“The entertainment is top-notch, we really did a great job in getting more entertainment,” Greene said. “I think we have more entertainment than any other street fair we’ve been to. (it’s) such a wonderful, wonderful event.”