By VANESSA LANGDON
Staff Writer
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On Sunday, Sept. 21 from noon to 5 p.m. the upper block of Madison Avenue was blocked off to all traffic for the 6th annual Upper Madison Street Fair.
The fair featured food, games, vendors, and musical acts. Anne Savage, 46, chair of the fair’s steering committee said, “You can think of it as a super block party.” The event is no small endeavor–it is planned and carried out completely by volunteers. “Running a festival of this scale with no paid staff is very challenging,” said Savage. She did not shy away from the battle, though; she worked hard to fulfill her goal.
“The big picture is we are trying to increase people’s understanding…the wonderful merchants, the restaurants and businesses, the sub goal is to promote the businesses because that’s why people chose to live in the Pine Hills,” says Savage.
There were many new additions to the street fair this year according to Savage, including some do-it-yourself art. Sarah Moore, a local artist and business owner of Art in the Pines, led people in creating their own artwork during two sessions Sunday. Kevin McNamara, a 2001 graduate of Saint Rose and Pine Hills local, took part in the DIY art. “The fair is getting better and better. It’s growing, there’s a lot of variety of stuff,” said McNamara. The craft did have a cost of $5 that Savage explained is to cover materials cost.
The cost of the activities offered at the free fair is something that the steering committee and all that work on the fair had on their minds; Savage said that they try to make the fair “affordable even for families with multiple children, we worked really hard to make it affordable for everyone.”
One example of the searching that Savage and other members of the steering committee did to find affordable options was for a face painter. They decided on a vendor who offered face painting for $4. “We want everyone to get their face painted and have mommy not say, ‘Sorry that’s too much money,” said Savage.
Savage stressed the importance of the sponsors of the fair. “Corporate sponsors are absolutely critical,” said Savage. The only additional financing the fair receives is from vendor fees. All vendors pay a modest fee in order to participate in the fair. The vendors also must be local artisans and not simply sell wholesale goods.
There were raffles at the fair, as well. “It’s a big money maker with a whole bunch of different options and it’s a great raffle this year,” Savage said. The raffle included about 50 prizes that have a total value of $2,000.
All money raised at the fair goes to fund events held throughout the year, including free movies in Ridgefield Park, concerts on the Elks Club lawn, banners signifying the streets in the neighborhood, landscaping and an $80,000 park planned for the area in front of the police station that will be built without city funds.
Councilwoman Leah Golby was also in attendance Sunday to provide demonstrations on how to use bike racks located on CDTA buses. “A lot of people are interested in biking and want to start using the bus but are intimidated by the whole process of how to get the bike on the buses so I will be doing demonstrations,” said Golby, of the two demonstrations she did Sunday.
The buses remained at the fair for people to further practice and for kids to play in. “There is nothing little kids like better than buses,” said Savage.
The fair also changed its layout from previous years to accommodate the construction at the Albany Police Center Station. The constructionoccupies much of the space the fair’s kid’s zone normally occupies.
“This year we had planned to have it right up close to the police station but obviously that won’t happen,” said Savage.
The planning for the fair begins early in the year, only weeks after the fair happens. “We actually start in October with an evaluation meeting on the prior years’ street fair,” said Savage. The meeting is used to discuss what they liked, what they didn’t like and start strategizing for the next year. The heavy-duty planning does not begin until the next spring when the vendor and musical act applications go up on the street fair’s website.
Pine Hills Neighborhood Association President, Virginia Hammer, credits Ric Chesser with the conception of the Upper Madison Street Fair. “It started out as a twinkle in the eye of Ric Chesser,” said Hammer.
Chesser said the festival became what it is today after evolving from the Taste of Madison event. “A decade or so ago the city got some grant money and rehabbed the south side of Madison. To celebrate it I worked with a woman from the city to put on the Taste of Madison. The next year I did it but it was like pulling teeth and then I got the Pine Hills Neighborhood Association involved.”
Now all decisions concerning musical acts are made by Chesser, director of the Steamer 10 Theatre. Chesser selects acts that he feels will appeal to a wide variety of fair-goers and they “try to pull performers from the neighborhood,” said Chesser.
“One of my favorites is Swing Shift, who worked at factories in their youths but play 20s and 30s jazz. It took a year but I convinced them,” said Chesser of the eight-piece band that opened the fair at noon.
One of Chesser’s selections for this year’s fair was singer-songwriter Michael Jerling. He heard about the street fair through a chance run-in with Chesser but Jerling is no newcomer to the Pine Hills area.
“I have many friends that live there, I used to be down there very often…I used to play at a place called Bogies,” said Jerling.
As a first-time Upper Madison Street Fair attendee, Jerling was excited to “hear the other musicians.”
The only hesitation Jerling had about the event was the weather, as he had a recent performance in Saratoga rained out, but he remained optimistic. “I’ll be playing a small part and I hope it’ll be a beautiful afternoon,” said Jerling of the event that turned out to be on a gorgeous summerlike day.
The fair also featured Saint Rose a capella groups The Golden Notes and The Other Guys.
Jonathon Duda, 39, has a long history with the street fair. Duda began his involvement in the fair six years ago for the first year. “I wanted to be involved in our neighborhood in some capacity…it’s hard with such a diverse population to have this community feel so I felt a duty of mine to create a little bit more of a sense of a community for all the different types of people living in this neighborhood,” said Duda.
He began working on the fair as a volunteer working on the beginning stages of the planning but this year he worked as one of the entertainers. Duda runs the Let’s Drum Program and was set up on Sunday at the fair.
He said, “I am most looking forward to making a lot of noise and really what I get out of it is to provide this free source of entertainment for kids and adults who come up and try things out that they never tried before.” Duda continued, “You go into music stores and you’re not allowed to touch things so this allows you to do so.”
Make a lot of noise he did with his stand constantly full of kids. “It’s the most I’ve seen attending,” said Duda.
Ptl. Joseph Acquaviva, Jr., the officer assigned to the neighborhood as part of the Neighborhood Engagement Unit, has worked to root himself in the community.
“Last year I sat in on most of the committee meetings, this year I’m volunteering as one of the captains to get things done,” said Acquaviva.
He stressed the family-friendly nature of the event, emphasizing the ‘dry’ atmosphere: “They don’t serve beer so it’s more family oriented. If they served beer it would be just like any other fair in Albany.”
The fair is a way for the area to display its diversity and come together as a community. Tierra Farms, that now runs the Madison Theatre, put the Upper Madison Street Fair on the Madison marquee for the first time in the history of the fair. “Tierra Farms has been nothing but fantastic,”said Savage.
Hammer is also a big proponent of the street fair and its ability to showcase the area.
“Upper Madison is within the bounds of the Pine Hills Neighborhood Association. Therefore, we are extremely supportive of the street fair. We actually are a member of the organization that plans the fair because we believe obviously the goal of the organization, to showcase everything that we have in this commercial area so by holding the fair right there in the middle of the commercial area we are bringing attention to the area,” said Hammer.
Savage is a mother of two young kids and said, “They are about as excited about the street fair as any two people could possibly be…they like the fried dough, that’s what they are most excited about.”
