Fall Festival in Herrick Park

Months after East Hampton Village held its first-ever street fair, the village’s first fall festival has been scheduled.

At the village board’s meeting on Friday, Steven Ringel, executive director of the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce, detailed plans for a fall festival to be held on Oct. 21 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the section of Herrick Park nearest to Newtown Lane that includes the playground and gazebo.

Later in the meeting, the board voted to approve the chamber’s request to use the park for the festival.

Mr. Ringel had conceived and planned the May 20 street fair on Newtown Lane, which was widely viewed as successful by the board, members of the chamber, and residents. On Friday, he proposed a smaller event with around 35 booths in which artists will offer their work and 25 nonprofit organizations can disseminate community-related information. The festival will include a “Halloween family element,” he said, in the form of pumpkin carving and a costume contest. The Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter has agreed to provide a climbing wall, he said, and the Children’s Museum of the East End will offer hands-on science and art activities.

Buoy One Seafood, a retail and catering company on Railroad Avenue and one of the newest members of the chamber, has offered to assemble a booth from which it will offer lobster rolls during the festival, Mr. Ringel said, and he is researching another vendor to offer fare such as pretzels or doughnuts, “something for kids that is a quick, inexpensive buy.”

Parking will be accommodated at the long-term lot off Railroad Avenue, the John M. Marshall Elementary School, and, if necessary, the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter. Hamptons Free Ride will shuttle people to and from the festival, as it did for the street fair, Mr. Ringel said.

The chamber’s board feels that the public restrooms at the edge of the park and the Reutershan municipal parking lot will be sufficient for the estimated 750 to 1,000 people the festival may attract, Mr. Ringel said, so the rental of a trailer with bathroom facilities, a significant expense incurred for the street fair, will not be necessary.

“You’re going to be wholly responsible for total removal of refuse and waste?” Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. asked.

“It’s going to be cleaner than when we arrived,” Mr. Ringel promised.

“It sounds like a wonderful event,” the mayor said. “We just want to return it to its natural state.”