An eco-friendly fashion show on Avenue B

Local merchants and designers are teaming up today for the Ave B Eco-Friendly Fashion Show... it starts at 12:30 on Avenue B between 10th Street and 11th Street. 

You can find more info on the participants via Instagram. 

The show is brought to you by Loisaida Open Streets and the East Village Community Coalition.

Petition calls for 1 more year of the Hester Street Fair in current location

As Curbed's Valeria Ricciulli reported on Friday, the Seward Park co-op board decided not to renew the lease for the Hester Street Fair, founded in 2010 and set to start on April 10. 

There's now a petition (link here) in circulation to either give them one more year at the site or help find a new location for the Street Fair. 

Per the petition:

In late February we were finally able to present a general presentation to the board to discuss the renewal of our lease. Again a lot of praise with no feedback or questions from the board. Two days prior to the meeting we decided to accept pre-applications, as a way to show the commitment and interest from our community, and received 110 applications resulting in a total of 850 booths booked in 48 hours. 

Exactly four weeks before our scheduled Season 12 opening on April 10th, we received an email stating the board wants to consider a different operator, and not allow us to proceed with the programming. 

While the board has no legal obligation to the Hester Street Fair, we still urge them to allow us, our vendors, and partners to finish what we started, to continue the fair for this season, and give us the time to transition to a new location.

EVG Etc.: NYC businesses struggling with anti-Asian violence; new vendor replacing the Hester Street Fair

• Business owners struggle with unrelenting anti-Asian violence in NYC (Eater) 

• Scenes from the vigil against anti-Asian racism at Union Square (Gothamist) 

• Local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera advocates for an extension on Local Law 1932, which has helped NYC restaurants hang on during the pandemic (Grub Street)

• A report from the pop-up pantry yesterday at Most Holy Redeemer Nativity Church on 3rd Street (NY1 ... previously on EVG)

• A look at the NYC jobs market amid the pandemic (The City)

• How the Strand lost its workers (Vulture ... more on Instagram)

• Convicted felon Steve Croman receives two-year extension to pay off his remaining $2 million restitution to tenants (The Real Deal)

• After 10 years, the Hester Street Fair is without a home in Seward Park (Curbed ... there's a petition in place to give the Fair another season here) 

• A review of the new documentary on iconic East Village artist and activist David Wojnarowicz (IndieWire)

• East Village-based photographer Sally Davies on her portraits of New Yorkers in their homes (The Guardian)

• A more subdued St. Patrick's Day at McSorley's (Gothamist) 

• Village Preservation is now accepting nominations for individuals, institutions, organizations, businesses, public spaces, or renovations that make special contributions to Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo. The Village Awards Nominations window closes on Friday, April. Awards will be presented on June 16. Learn more about the Village Awards here ... and nominate a local business, institution, community group, restoration, renovation or hero at this link.

• ICYMI: The Iggy Pop commercial for Marshall (Muse by Clio) 

Coffee and plants this weekend at Coffee Project on 5th Street

Today and tomorrow, Coffee Project at 239 E. Fifth St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square is hosting a Plants and Pour-Over Pop-Up benefitting the National Alliance on Mental Illness. (This is taking place at all four Coffee Project locations in NYC.) 

Here's more about it via Instragram:

Friends, we thank you for your support and allyship during this hard time. While the fight isn't over, we would also like to raise awareness on mental health among women in this collaboration with @stolenmagnolia. This Saturday 3/20 and Sunday 3/21 we will be organizing a Plant and Coffee event in all locations to share how caring for plants can be therapeutic and improve quality of life, especially for women. Parts of the proceeds will be donated to the @namicommunicate.

The event takes place each day in the East Village from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Back to nature

 

From the recently released On All Fours, the second record by the South London-based Goat Girl... this is "Badibaba" ... one of the catchiest songs you'll ever hear about environmental catastrophe.

A virtual afternoon with 'literary masters of revolutionary charm'

A virtual event to note tomorrow at the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B ...

Tomorrow, Saturday, March 20 at 2 p.m. we are having a second and final event dedicated to the 17th issue of the LiVE MAG! neighborhood journal of art and poetry. Join us to hear literary masters of revolutionary charm — Patricia Spears Jones, Paco Marquez, Larry Sawyer, Lydia Cortés, Bob Heman. Your hosts, Jeffrey Cyphers Wright (Uncle Fun) and Ilka Scobie, guarantee to make it an erudite, witty and refreshingly impromptu afternoon. 

You can register at this link.

Spring?

From the EVG inbox... 

"Miss Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street is aware of media reports that Spring is springing but in her estimation, these reports seem premature." 

Thanks Jose Gacia!

Noted

The Craigslist notice that has been making the rounds the past two days:

My mom is dead 

She wanted to be cremated [sic] but the guy who burns bodies say she's too fat to get on fire. 

For her funeral we will put her in a box. 

I am looking for 6 athletic male models to carry my mom into the church. 

Must have six packs and bring your own fedoras the funeral will be gangster themed because she is italian

H/T Stacie Joy

Egg watch is on

Word from Tompkins Square Park this past week: There's at least one egg in the nest for the resident red-tailed hawks Amelia and Christo. (And all photos here by Steven.)

Goggla is putting the first egg date at March 13. 

So...

The hawks usually lay three eggs, but we have no idea what's going on up in the nest, so we will just have to wait and see. Going by the first egg date, we can expect a hatch in about six weeks, so around the end of April or first week of May. When that happens, we won't be able to see anything, but Christo will start bringing food to the nest. In the meantime, there won't be much for us to watch except for Christo and Amelia taking turns brooding.

Below: Viewer discretion is advised

Leading up to this point, the two were spotted mating... a lot...

... even on top of St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church on 10th Street and Avenue A...

In this post, Goggla provides egg-laying dates from the last seven years, going back to Christo's first nest on the Christodora with (sob) Dora. (BTW Dora is fine, likely on permanent rehab on Long Island.) 

The new location of FlyeLyfe opens today on 1st Avenue

Photo from Wednesday by Stacie Joy

The new location of FlyeLyfe has its grand opening today at noon at 215 First Ave. just south of 13th Street.

This is a big move for East Village-based artist and entrepreneur P.J. O’Rourke, who had been selling his original design T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, hats, masks, prints, patches, bags, magnets and caps from a small storefront on 11th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

O’Rourke first started selling his creations on the L train via a mobile art cart in September 2012.

And now he's set up in a two-level space that was previously occupied by a Dunkin' Donuts. 

Previously on EV Grieve:

A visit to FlyeLyfe on 11th Street

Yes, Sophie's is reopening today

There has been activity in recent days at Sophie's, the bar that someone once started a blog about here at 507 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

This photo from yesterday shows a beer delivery ahead of its reopening this afternoon. 

Sophie's along with its sister bars Josie's on Sixth Street and Mona's on Avenue B return after closing in December when Gov. Cuomo did away with indoor dining at bars and restaurants. (Indoor capacity in NYC is at 50 percent as of today.) 

There was never any doubt that these neighborhood bars would reopen at some point. 

Still, there were some freakout moments in recent weeks ... like when Google temporarily listed Sophie's as "permanently closed" ... 😱🤯

Stanton Street CSA accepting sign ups for the 2021 summer season

The Stanton Street CSA has opened up enrollment for the upcoming summer season that begins on June 10. 

Per CSA organizers: "We're proud to announce that this summer will be our 17th year offering organic, local, seasonal produce to residents of the East Village and LES — though of course, anyone can join, not just those who live right nearby." 

And they're offering the following summer shares: veggies, fruit, eggs, maple, and maybe mushrooms (the mushroom share would be new and they're still sorting details). The veggie season lasts 22 weeks starting on June 10. 

Their distributions take place rain or shine on Thursdays from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the M'Finda Kalunga Garden on Rivington and Forsyth. 

You can sign up online here. And you can find the Stanton Street CSA website here. If you have questions, then there's a Zoom session coming up on Saturday, March 27 for prospective members who have questions about their offerings, want to know how to qualify for a subsidized share or have bad veggie puns for the group.