After a days of cloudy skies, Bay Ridge residents enjoyed a sunny celebration at the annual Third Avenue Festival and Raggamuffin Parade last weekend.
On Oct. 1, restaurants and business owners lined over 25 blocks along Third Avenue along with kid-friendly attractions, food, and live musicians. Dan Texeira, president of the Merchants of Third Avenue, said Sunday’s turnout was the best the event has ever seen — and a perfect way to celebrate the event’s 50th anniversary.
“One of the largest turnouts, the weather was perfect,” Texeira told Brooklyn Paper. “It was good anniversary.”
He said the combination of tons of attractions, bands and mostly sunny skies encouraged the crowd to come out.
According to Chip Cafiero, the festival’s event manager, some locals were worried the yearly block party would be washed out like last year’s celebration, but it was all sunshine for the crowds.
The successful festival was preceded by the delightful Ragamuffin Parade, a city tradition where children strut down the street in fun, festive costumes, on Sept. 30.
This year’s march was led by the grand marshal Josephine Beckmann, district manager for Community Board 10 and “Man Of The Year” John Quaglione, Deputy Press Secretary at the Brooklyn Diocese. Tots dressed up as aliens from the blockbuster film “Avatar,” the Monopoly Man, and even the captain of the ill-fated Titanic as they paraded through the neighborhood in a display likely to put Halloween to shame.
