Spring Fling Festival This Weekend

Village sidewalks will sizzle with color, music and merchandise this weekend for the third annual Babylon Village Spring Fling Arts and Music Festival and Sidewalk Sale.

Several dozen businesses will sell their wares outdoors, and artists and musical performers will provide live entertainment.

Spring Fling is a lively event sponsored by the Babylon Village Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Babylon Village Arts Council. 

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for our business community to engage in street-style selling, enhanced by the atmosphere of an art and music fair,” said Wally Levins, vice president of events for the Chamber of Commerce and owner of Coastal Island Treasures on Deer Park Avenue.

“Basically, we took a good idea [the sidewalk sale] and expanded upon it,” he said. “With the food, the entertainment, the artists displaying their work, the dancers and musicians, there’s a lot more ambiance.”

The festival encourages movement and interaction.

“The art and music presentations are sprinkled all throughout Deer Park Avenue and Main Street. We want people to move around, explore, and experience the variety,” Levins said.  

Friday, June 3, is for the Sidewalk Sale Preview. The musical performances and art displays will be on Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5. Participating merchants will sell their goods during all three days of the event. 

The list of musicians and artists is extensive.

“Jon Taylor [Chamber of Commerce president, and proprietor of Village Art and Frame Gallery] and I have musical backgrounds,” said Levins, “and the Babylon Village Arts Council has musical connections. So we’ve got a great line-up."

The list includes Grand Folk Railroad, Tom Cavanagh with Christine Vaskas, and James Street Player Karen Moseman performing 1940s music in a trio.

"There’s also a banjo player, a fiddler and much much more," said Levins, noting that the live music will be “acoustic music--not too loud or overpowering.” 

Approximately 15 to 16 artists will display a wide range of artwork. Photographer Ed Mooney, watercolorist Bill Kuchler and mixed media artist Monica Friedrich are scheduled to attend.

Levins said festival goers will also be treated to a performance showcasing students from Positions Dance Studio.

And he is upbeat about the prospect of this weekend’s weather: “I’ve been looking at the long range forecast and I love what I’m seeing,” he said.

The Spring Fling Arts and Music Festival and Sidewalk Sale is Saturday June 4 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday June 5 from noon to 5 p.m., with the  Sidewalk Sale Preview on Friday, June 3.

And, if the sun doesn't cooperate, the rain dates are the following weekend, June 11 to 12.