Most published fall fair lists skew toward Midtown and Brooklyn. The fair organizer’s own schedule — the page vendors use to book tables — is a better source for what is actually closing near you, because it lists every date with exact cross streets.
For upper Manhattan and western Queens, the fall calendar lands close to home.
- Sunday, Sept 20 — Broadway Fall Fair. Broadway (W) between 86th and 96th Streets. Walking distance from most of central Harlem, or one short bus ride.
- Saturday, Sept 26 — Upper Broadway Fall Fair. Broadway (E) between 110th and 116th Streets. That is Harlem proper, right by Columbia.
- Saturday, Sept 26 — 63rd Drive “Rego Park” Festival. 63rd Drive from Queens Boulevard to Austin Street, a few blocks from the 63rd Drive–Rego Park station.
- Sunday, Sept 27 — Lexington Avenue fair. Lexington Ave from 79th to 96th Streets, plus Fordham Road fairs in the Bronx.
- Sunday, Oct 18 — Forest Hills Autumn Fair. 71st/Continental Avenue between Queens Boulevard and Austin Street.
- Sunday, Oct 25 — Upper Broadway Harvest Fair. Broadway (W) between 96th and 106th Streets.
Two Saturdays in a row, the avenue closest to home is the one closed to cars: Broadway on Sept. 20, then Broadway again on Sept. 26 — a ten-block stretch each time, roughly 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
These are the standard New York street fairs: food vendors, craft tables, community organizations, sidewalk sales, and a lot of slow walking. Nothing to buy a ticket for, nothing to RSVP to.
If you want the wider list, the same schedule covers the East Village, Astoria, Woodhaven, Sunnyside, Williamsburg, Smith Street in Brooklyn, and Jerome Avenue in the Bronx through November — but the ones worth clearing an afternoon for are the ones you can walk to.