Mt. Airy Village Fair proves dogs, food and games can block an intersection

For the sixth year, the intersection of Greene Street and Carpenter Lane came alive on Sunday ith what Mt. Airy residents call a true representation of the neighborhood via colorful, homemade carnival games, kiosks with local vendors, farm animals, dancing children and plenty of pooches.

The Mt. Airy Village Fair brought out a few hundred to the intersection for family and community fun. And while many may think Weavers Way Cooperative is responsible for the event, spokesman Jon McGoran said not to make that mistake.

“We’ve helped promote it,” he said. “We did some of the press for it, we printed a lot of the materials. But it’s a team effort.”

The Village Fair is the collaborative effort of businesses on the block—including the cooperative along with High Point Café, Big Blue Marble Book Store and Philadelphia Salvage.

Meg Hagele, owner of High Point Café and one of the organizers, said the event is meant to bring neighbors to the area, have a good time and celebrate not just community but local business.

Hagele said the fair is meant to be highly interactive, even though vendors are selling their products. Each booth is required to have a free activity involving their craft. And almost everything—including the carnival games, which were made by her husband Curtis Coyote and local artist Steve Donegan—have a homemade and original feel.

Attendees agreed that the fair has a more local feel to it than an average fair.

Andria Hale, who lives a few blocks away, is a second-time attendee of the fair. Since she’s an avid juggler, she brought some props to teach locals to juggle—just for fun.

“It’s kind of fun to hang out and teach people to juggle and make people smile,” she said.

Hale is a member of Weavers Way as well as a regular at the High Point Café and said she likes the village feel around the area.

Susan and Adam Siti, who aren’t members of the food coop or frequenters of the block, say they enjoy coming to the events because it makes them feel closer to their community.

“It’s nice to see the whole community in one place,” said Adam. “And I think it represents Mt. Airy as a whole.”

Mt. Airy resident and High Point Café employee Brittany Rafalak participated in the dog parade and said she is happy to have such an active community compared with her old Center City neighborhood.

“It’s kind of a new concept for me because I lived in the city for a while and there wasn’t really a sense of community,” she said. “Coming to Mt. Airy and having these really fun festivals where you know everybody, it’s nice.”

Sue Wasserkrug, owner of Zea May’s Native American food truck, said she lives a few blocks away and typically participates in the fair. However, she enjoyed still being part of the fair by bringing her food truck.

“This was a nice location to be in because we could see a lot of the entertainment and hear most of the music,” she said. “Mt. Airy knows how to have fun.”