9th Av Food Festival Start of Summer in Hell’s Kitchen

The Ninth Avenue Food Festival returns May 16 and 17 for its 51st year, bringing the familiar smell of grilled meat, corn on the cob, fresh lemonade and the annual Hell’s Kitchen ritual of seeing — and being seen by — neighbors, former neighbors and people you somehow only run into at the Food Fest. With sunny skies and warm temperatures in the forecast, the neighborhood’s unofficial kickoff to summer is arriving right on schedule.

Over the years, the festival grew into a citywide draw while somehow still maintaining its neighborhood DNA. Fable — now in her 90s and still involved with the festival — once recalled how vendors baked overnight to keep up with demand during those early years, including the debut of spinach pie to many New Yorkers.

We will meet in fort of Starbucks at 43 St and 9th Av. at sharp 1.00 pm