Modeled after an upstate New York-style county fair, the Fordham Road Fair is sure to please everyone.
The Fordham Road Fair, run by the Fordham Road Business Improvement District, will take place this year on Saturday, October 1 on East Fordham Road from East 188th Street to East Kingsbridge Road. It runs from noon to 6 p.m.
It will feature stiltwalkers, jugglers, magicians, carnival games, live musical entertainment and a classic car show, said Daniel Bernstein, deputy director, Fordham Road BID.
“What we are doing is bringing a fair like one you would normally be able to find only at a county fair grounds to Fordham Road here,” said Bernstein, adding “It was a big hit last year.”
Fordham Road will be closed off completely to vehicular traffic for the fair and buses will be rerouted, he said.
“Major planning goes into this type of an event,” said Bernstein, adding “NYPD (officers) are in here early in the morning closing traffic off…the only cars you will see will be in the classic car show.”
For the event, musical entertainment will be concentrated on a stage near Bryan Park, and there‘s a D.J. from noon to 2 p.m. with live entertainment following from 2 to 6 p.m., according to the BID.
The classic car show will be on East Fordham Road from Grand Concourse to Valentine Avenue, according to the BID.
Carnival-style games are situated between Valentine and Tiebout avenues, with food concentrated west of the Grand Concourse, said Bernstein.
The Fordham Road Fair grew out of a similar event that was held for over two decades along East Fordham Road called the Fordham Road Renaissance Festival, said the BID deputy director.
One of the BID’s forerunner, the Bronx Council for Economic Development, coordinated the renaissance festival, said Bernstein, but that organization was dissolved.
“It was something that the residents really loved,” said Bernstein of the original festival.
Councilman Ritchie Torres was very helpful in providing funding for the Fordham Road Fair, said Bernstein.
“(The Fordham Road Fair) has become a signature event of the Fordham Road BID,” said Torres. “Since Fordham Road is the commercial, cultural and geographic center of the Bronx, it is only fitting that you have a festival on Fordham Road.”
The councilman and his office had to work with the Fordham Road BID to secure another permit for the new Fordham Road Fair to replace the festival, he said
“We are proud to be able to restore what had been a longstanding tradition,” said Torres, adding that Fordham Road without a festival was a void in the cultural life of the borough.
The councilman said that he has been a strong support in terms of funding for the Fordham Road BID, including $30,000 in FY 2014 and $55,000 in both FY 2015 and FY 2016.
