Street fairs in New York City are a sure sign of summer. On any given weekend in Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs, you can turn a corner to find the roads blocked off and hundreds of people walking down the middle of the street. Even though many of the street fairs are exactly the same vendors, I always go to them when I see the street closed off. There is just something so “New Yorkish” about these fairs. The cheap lemonade, the mozzarepas, the crappy t-shirts, the blaring salsa muic, the man selling fruit magnets. If you have been to one of these fairs, you know exactly what I am talking about!
One of the bigger street fairs in New York City is the Ninth Avenue International Food Festival. At just under 3/4 of a mile long, this fair is a large, two-day festival each May. Fifteen city blocks closed down to car and bus traffic with more than 50 vendors. Given the name of the festival, you are sure to find many international treats along the route. Now, there may not be many gluten-free items available at a fair like this but if you do enough looking around you are bound to find a few!
One of the bonuses during these fairs is that many local vendors and restaurants are open and having specials for their customers. Along 9th Ave, Nizza NYC and Five Napkin Burger both have gluten-free menus and were both packed during the food festival.
There is not one official New York City street fair schedule, but you can use these links to help you plan your visit to the next fair:
http://www.nycstreetfairs.com/sched.html
http://www.newyorkled.com/nyc_events_street_fairs.htm
Have you been to any New York City street fairs this summer? If so, did you find any great gluten-free treats?
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