PARK SLOPE, Brooklyn (PIX11) — How many times do you wish you could go back to your old neighborhood and see your old childhood friends?
Well, one Brooklyn man decided to create his own festival so he could catch up with his old buddies.
Welcome to the second annual Old Timers’ Festival where people who grew up on or near 4th Street and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope come together to celebrate family, friends, and their shared memories of the good, old days.
Organizer John Lee grew up in this corner of Park Slope and says he has so many wonderful memories that he founded this festival, paying for it himself, to bring together all his old friends and family members to have some great food together, and listen to music and just reminisce.
“I wanted to see my friends, and not on a sad occasion, like a funeral,” Lee told PIX11 News.
“I wanted it to be a happy occasion where we are just having fun. You can’t put a price on memories,” Lee added.
Lee introduced PIX11 News to the queen of this festival, 92-year-old Consuela Fenton, who everyone knew and loved as they were growing up in the 60s and 70s in Park Slope.
“It makes me feel proud,” Fenton told PIX11 News. “Wonderful memories,” she added.
Fenton’s daughter drove down from Schenectady, NY to celebrate with her mother, her siblings, and friends.
“We were raised in this area. We all went to school together,” Richardson said. “My mom worked at PS 321 as a security guard. Everyone knew and loved my mother,” she added.
This warm gathering wanted to also remember those loved ones from the neighborhood who have passed so they released white balloons into the sky.
“This is joy. It is inexpressible,” Pastor Robin Johnson of the Church Without Walls told PIX11 News. “We didn’t know color. We had so many friends, all races, good friends,” she added.
Because this festival is growing each year, organizer John Lee is already planning for the Third Annual Old Timers’ Festival next August.
