They have seen the rain comin’ down on a sunny day.
Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights almost turned into thunder road on Sunday, when an unexpected summer storm hit the Wash Ave. Rocks! street fair, but revelers and stall-holders didn’t let the downpour dampen their spirits and it ended up being a beautiful day, organizers said.
“It was a long day but it was all worth it,” said Dale Charles of housing organization the Pratt Area Community Council, which worked with the Washington Avenue-Prospect Heights Association to put together the event, which is now in its sixth year. “Everyone stuck together and made it work out.”
The skies opened up in the early afternoon, sending vendors’ tents and bounce houses blowin’ in the wind, and drenching the disc jockey’s equipment, which put a temporary damper on the outdoor festivities that stretched from Prospect Place to St. Mark’s Avenue, said Charles.
But the community rallied to revive the soggy celebration, and carried on with the fashion show and pooch parade in the aftermath, he said.
“Everything that was salvageable came back together, and people were still out enjoying themselves,” said Charles.
Kids also enjoyed the fete’s amusements — at least for a little while, before the rain washed them away, said one neighborhood mom.
“The kids had a lot of fun in the bouncy house for a few minutes,” said Dilestynne Morris, who brought her two kids and her niece, but took them home to seek shelter from the storm when the skies opened up.
Washington Avenue merchants including pastry purveyor Little Miss Muffin ‘N’ Her Stuffin’, between Park and Sterling places, and sandwich shop Dorsey’s Kitchen, between Sterling and St. Johns places, fed the crowds, while the Brooklyn Brewery and the Way Station bar ran a beer garden.
Charles says the civic groups staged the fair in part to thank the community for its efforts to clean up the street earlier in the year, which included collecting trash in May and planting trees in July.
“It was about bringing the community together,” she said. “After all the support that was given throughout the year, this was a thank you.”
