Smorgasburg in Williamsburg Faces More Resident Backlash | Eater NY

"I've seen significant local pushback against this wildly popular food festival, which takes over East River State Park each year from April through October; residents say it monopolizes the park and should end in July or August so locals can access more of the waterfront during peak summer months. Officials at the state parks department say they've only received a small number of complaints and that most locals support the event, but backlash isn't new — since founders Eric Demby and Jonathan Butler started it in 2011 residents have complained about noise and trash (notably in 2013), and in 2017 the founders moved the adjacent Brooklyn Flea waterfront market after complaints that both events were taking up too much park space. Despite critics, Smorgasburg continues to draw tens of thousands of attendees and has expanded to two other NYC locations and outposts in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Japan, and Brazil." - Tanay Warerkar