Chamber Pitches Street Fair for May

The new executive director of the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce pitched two big ideas at meetings this week: a street fair on Newtown Lane in May and a Sunday farmers market on the lawn of the East Hampton Middle School this summer. 

They piqued interest but also sparked questions at the East Hampton Village and East Hampton School Boards.

The concept is good, but many details would have to be addressed if Newtown Lane were to be closed for a street fair in May, the East Hampton Village Board told Mr. Ringel last Thursday.

Mr. Ringel, who succeeded Marina Van as director in November, described a “spring celebration” with approximately 40 booths for artists and nonprofit organizations, a stage, particularly for bands, and a children’s activities area. He proposed May 20 as the date and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. as the hours.

Among the plans Mr. Ringel outlined: Newtown Lane would be closed to vehicular traffic between Main Street and Park Place, the access to the Reutershan parking lot; half of the 10-by-10-foot booths would be free to nonprofits, and the other half would be offered for a nominal fee to local artists who could sell only their own work.

“It would be a community event, for people to come down and see each other and learn about nonprofits that are available to them that they may not know about,” Mr. Ringel said. No food or alcoholic beverages would be offered, he said. “The point is to support the businesses and bring people downtown,” rather than compete with existing businesses, he said. 

Placing booths in the center of Newtown Lane would highlight the street’s brick-and-mortar shops, as opposed to a more typical setup in which booths are positioned at the sidewalks on either side. “It encourages people to shop, eat, and go to businesses,” and they, in turn, would be encouraged to offer sales and discounted meals.

Mr. Ringel said that emergency personnel and Michael Tracy, the acting chief of the Village Police Department, and all the merchants he had spoken to reacted positively. “Everyone thought it would be great to stimulate business as long as it didn’t happen during peak season.”

Emphasizing that he was speaking for himself, Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. delivered a lukewarm response. “I don’t think I or this board want to dampen your enthusiasm,” he said, but “we’re leaving the gate a little bit too early with respect to what you’d like to do at the very outset vis-a-vis the chamber.”

Mr. Ringel’s proposal that parking be prohibited on Newtown Lane during the fair, with the East Hampton Middle School parking lot open and a shuttle taking people to and from farther lots, was problematic, the mayor said, calling parking in the commercial district “a key element” for its merchants. He also wondered about village code restrictions. “I think some of these things have to be talked out a lot more,” he said. “The concept is good, but let’s start small and build on that.”

Barbara Borsack, a longtime board member, liked the idea, but wondered why May instead of the fall, “because we locals are so busy in May.” Mr. Ringel said previously scheduled events precluded other dates.

Richard Lawler, another board member, was also open to the idea, but wanted “to be sure that the entire business community that’s directly affected is on board with it.” He and Ms. Borsack agreed to serve on a committee with chamber officials to, in the mayor’s words, “make something like this work for the benefit of everyone.”

At an East Hampton School Board meeting on Tuesday, Mr. Ringel presented his proposal for a Sunday farmers market, which would run for 15 weeks starting in June. There is already a farmers market in East Hampton on Fridays in the Nick and Toni’s parking lot on North Main Street, but that is outside of village limits. The Springs farmers market has been traditionally held on Saturdays, and Bridgehampton’s Hayground School market on Fridays.

According to Mr. Ringel, the idea is to bring the community together in the heart of the village — something Montauk has successfully done with its weekly Thursday market on the downtown green. Vendors would be restricted to local farmers who “sell what they grow,” he said. As at the street fair he has proposed, there would be booths made available for nonprofit organizations.

The proposal had first been presented to the district’s superintendent, Richard Burns, and had received enthusiastic feedback.

Perhaps the biggest hook for the school board was what Mr. Ringel described as “an excellent opportunity for East Hampton students to get involved in the running of the market and in doing so, gain valuable experience in marketing, business, and commerce.”

Board members and school officials agreed they would need to investigate the proposal in detail to ensure a farmers market on school property complies with the school’s policy guidelines. Several members cited potential traffic jams on Newtown Lane during the busy summer months.

Mr. Ringel does not believe that traffic would be an issue on a Sunday. He also assured the board that the Chamber of Commerce would absorb all liability costs and that a portion of booth fees would go to the school district. Furthermore, he promised that the site would have “a lot of trash cans and a lot of [portable] bathrooms.”

The board was noncommittal, and though Mr. Ringel said he was disappointed, he intends to keep the conversation going.