NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Sunday marked the first day of Harlem Week, a celebration of the neighborhood featuring local businesses and vendors.
The annual tradition is back in-person after going fully virtual in 2020. The theme this year is “Rebirth, Rebuild, and Rejoice.”
Dozens of vendors lined the streets around the General Grant Memorial. Music could be heard all throughout the neighborhood and the street food could be smelled from blocks away.
“It’s awesome we get a platform for everybody to be able to come to one place and see us,” said Emara Grainger, a women’s empowerment coach who owns Endurance by E.
John Hamilton, of the Upper West Side, was picking up food from one of the vendors with his wife. He said they only stumbled upon the event during a morning walk.
“I’m saddened that there hasn’t been a bigger splash about it,” he said. “This is the first that I’m discovering about it, and it’s just because we happened to bump into it.”
Although the vendors and local businesses are happy to be back, they weren’t even sure it was going to happen this year.
“I saw a lot of the notifications to small businesses and vendors like us came very late, so we might have three weeks to prep as opposed to three months to prep,” said Samuel Jenkins, who owns Creative Motif Jewelry.
Other Harlem Week events include a back-to-school fashion show and a 5K honoring the city’s first Black mayor, the late Mayor David Dinkins.
“Everything that you want to see in New York is here today. You come to Harlem, discover New York,” said Jackie, executive chef at Sweet Chef Bakery.
