Aug. 1, 2014 By Michael Florio
The Astoria Park Alliance is kicking off “Shore Fest 2014” Sunday, a free event series that will take place over three successive Sundays.
The festival, which is held on Shore Boulevard (between Astoria Park South and Ditmars Boulevard), draws big crowds each year.
“This is the sixth year for Shore Fest,” said Martha Lopez-Gilpin, Co-Chair of the Astoria Park Alliance. “We initially had a crowd of between 350 and 500 per day, but it has continued to grow.”
“This year we are hoping to reach up to 2,000 people per day, weather permitting,” Gilpin said.
The Astoria Alliance will be focusing on a different theme each Sunday.
This Sunday, the event—titled ‘We Like to Move It’— focuses on physical fitness. There will be fitness and movement classes as well as CrossFit demonstrations and a Zumba marathon.
On August 10, the organizers will be hosting ‘Tastes of Astoria,’ where local eateries will be handing out free samples of food. There will also be a watermelon-eating contest as well as education about healthy food.
On August 17,the day is being dubbed ‘Make Shore BoulevART,’ which aims to encourage those people in attendance to use their imagination and display their creativity. There will be arts and crafts for those who want to participate.
All events will start at 1:00 pm and end at 6:-00 pm.
The Astoria Alliance’s goal is to help local business owners boost their name recognition.
“This [festival] allows local businesses to interact with the community,” Gilpin said. “There’s really no other opportunity like this.”
Furthermore, several people like the festival since it’s an opportunity to showcase the iconic space along Shore Boulevard.
“It is such a natural extension of the park,” Gilpin said.
The road will be closed off to cars while the festival is on, except emergency vehicles.
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