How can one know if an event is wildly popular? Well, numbers don’t lie, and this year’s COJO Flatbush Family Fun Extravaganza, held annually on Chol HaMoed Pesach and sponsored by Assemblymember Simcha Eichenstein and COJO, drew its largest crowd yet, with ten thousand children and adults on hand to experience the sights and sounds of what one participant described as an “old-fashioned country carnival in the big city.”
The anticipation and excitement were easy to read on the faces of attendees – young, older, and in between – as they stopped at the registration station on their way in. Anyone turning the corner of Avenue M and East 17th Street was treated to a transformed cityscape as an otherwise nondescript urban block came alive for a few hours with vibrant color and happy chatter and rides and attractions as far as the eye could see.
A partial list of those rides and attractions would include the large Circus Clown moonwalk at the entrance to the Extravaganza, bumper cars and a ball pit and Bungee jumping and a Choo-Choo train and a Ferris wheel and a Great Slide and a Dixie Twister and two rock-climbing walls – one called Klime Wallz, known for its pop-art design, and another operated by the NYPD, which also brought its famed Game Truck, a traveling arcade that enables cops and kids to engage with each other while playing games. The FDNY was on hand as well, staffing a table stocked with literature on fire safety and prevention. There was a petting zoo and pony rides and a monkey show and magician Eliyahu Joseph and Mr. “Simon Sez,” Simon Hyman; interactive concert performances by Rabbi Shloime Taussig, Dovy Meisels, and Gershy Israeli; and, of course, balloons and cotton candy and snacks and fruit and beverages, all free of charge just like the rest of the Extravaganza.
COJO Flatbush CEO Louis Welz lauded the untiring efforts of Assemblymember Simcha Eichenstein in securing the funding necessary to ensure the continued success of the Extravaganza (which originated several years ago thanks to the vision of former Assemblymember – and newly elected City Councilmember – Simcha Felder).
“Simcha Eichenstein,” said Welz, “is a dear friend of COJO and a dedicated supporter of what we do. He never hesitates to go the extra mile on behalf of individuals as well as the greater community. I take great comfort in knowing that Simcha is always available to us. I’ve said to him privately and have repeated it publicly: Thank you, Simcha, for bringing genuine simcha – genuine happiness – to so many people.”
Welz and COJO Social Services Director Shulamis Shapiro also expressed thanks to the NYPD’s 70th Precinct and Shomrim for providing security at the event from beginning to end, and to DSNY Brooklyn District 14 Superintendent Robert McKenna for “always seeing to it that everything is properly taken care of; by 8 p.m. every trace of trash generated by the Extravaganza is nowhere to be seen.”
The Extravaganza, said Shapiro, is “a natural part of our commitment to public service. An event like this brings the families of our community so much happiness – without any worries about the cost of an afternoon filled with entertainment, and with the convenience of being smack in the middle of their own neighborhood, sparing them a long Chol HaMoed schlep.”
“It gave us a tremendous amount of pleasure, especially in these economic times,” said COJO Flatbush President Moshe Zakheim, “to know that parents don’t need to dig even deeper into their pockets or add to their credit card debt in order to give their families a joyful and memorable experience.”
Added Shapiro, “The Extravaganza is something everyone really looks forward to, and we hope to continue providing the community with this beautiful day of family fun for a long time to come.”
