Beautiful Day for Crestwood Street Fair in Tuckahoe

Warm, but not humid; breezy, but not windy—the Tuckahoe Beautification Committee could hardly have picked a more beautiful day than Sunday to sponsor a street fair.

Organized primarily to raise money for the committee’s spring plantings, the six-hour Crestwood Street Fair, held at Fisher and Columbus Avenues across from the Crestwood train station, featured an interactive mini-zoo, vendors, a raffle for various gift baskets, and a bouncy castle and open-air bouncy platform for the kids.

Fay Blasi of the Tuckahoe Beautification Committee said that almost all the poles around town would get hanging plants, and concrete planters would also be furnished with new flowers.

The vendors had toys, sunglasses, clothes, jewelry, marionettes, and handbags. Holistic Health Care of Eastchester set up a sand-art booth, a face-painting booth, and an information booth.

The Friends of the Tuckahoe Public Library, which was established earlier this year, held a book sale as its first fundraising activity and promoted its fundraising raffle at the fair. The drawing will be held at the end of June to kick off the library’s summer reading program, said Ginger Crosby, a member of the group. Prizes will include baskets of books for children and adults, with books signed by the authors, and a “reading and relaxation” basket as well. Crosby, her husband Donald, and fellow Friends' member Joan Ronson were also promoting three upcoming events at the library: a Lego robotics demonstration on Tuesday, a photography course on Wednesday, and an evening with award-winning author Andi Rosenthal on May 18.

The interactive zoo, held by Curious Creatures, offered exotic and interesting animals, most of which could be petted, including a tarantula, a python, a chinchilla, a guinea pig, a ferret, a gecko, and a hedgehog. DeLucia also had interesting facts to share with the children; for example, he said that none of the world’s more than 80 species of tarantula can kill a human being with its bite, unless someone is allergic to the venom, which is really a digestive enzyme.

Chris Pollard of Yonkers, who came to the fair with his wife and young daughter, said they planned to come for an hour but ended up staying for three.

“They really packed a lot of good stuff in this one small block,” Pollard said. “Between my wife and my daughter, I couldn’t get them out of here."