By Suzanne Ma
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER EAST SIDE — A quiet, tree-lined walkway between Seward Park and the Essex Street basketball courts will soon become home to a bustling weekend market.
Organizers hope they can gather about 60 vendors at the Hester Street Fair, at the corner of Hester and Essex streets, to sell anything from local artwork to freshly baked bread beginning in April.
One of the project’s main organizers, SuChin Pak, told the Lo-Down blog she hoped the new market would celebrate the neighborhood’s culture and history.
The concept hearkens back to the late 1800s, when shoppers crowded Hester Street haggling with pushcart peddlers over fish, vegetables and other delicacies.
“There are candles and matches to be bought; there are big stands of seed bread, carts full of cookies, and generous squares of cake, and there never was candy to be found anywhere that exceed in brilliancy of color the candy of Hester Street," read an 1885 article in the New York Times.
Lower East Side retailers — like the footwear line Devotte and Avenue B's Sigmund Pretzel Shop, famous for its crusty pretzels that come in flavors ranging from cheddar-jalapeno to caramel-pecan — have signed on as vendors.
The land is owned by the nearby Seward Park Co-op.
The market is set to open April 24, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and will be open every Saturday and Sunday after that until December.
Organizers have placed a Craigslist ad seeking more vendors and created a Facebook page so local residents can keep up to date on the market’s progress.
