Bellmore Family Street Fest to kick off Sept. 19

The 27th annual Bellmore Family Street Festival is set to begin on Thursday, Sept. 19. The carnival begins at 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and will run from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The street fair, which annually attracts more than 100,000 visitors, will start on Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. Live bands will play Friday night, festival coordinator Martha Verdi said.

The Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores, which sponsors the event, has brought back pay-one-price bracelets for carnival rides on Sunday, according to President Debby Izzo. She advised carnival-goers to check local stores to receive discount coupons for POP bracelets, which will sell for $25 each.

Izzo said that there will be a number of new carnival rides at the Kids Expo, on Sunrise Highway, between Bellmore and Centre avenues, and in the midway, between Centre and Bedford avenues, north of Sunrise Highway and south of Pettit Avenue. A new reptile show in the Kids Expo will feature a live alligator, she added.

Also new this year will be a magician show at the Petit Avenue Expo, featuring Belmont’s World of Magic, replacing racing pigs. The Sports Expo will be in a new location, on Broadway, between Bedford and Bellmore avenues, and will showcase displays featuring the Cosmos, the Brooklyn Nets and the Islanders.

Verdi said that flu shots would be offered at a Bloodmobile at the fair, and added that there would be a large number of military displays and booths for nonprofit organizations.

Town of Hempstead Councilman Gary Hudes, who was the festival’s director for its first 15 years, said, “Now we’re up to year 27. The festival is still going strong after all these years. It continues to be the premier family festival in Nassau County … It’s great that the Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores has enough volunteers to put on a festival of this magnitude year after year. It’s a testament to volunteerism.”