#sidestreetsaturday

A moment for these stunning sunflowers 🌻! If you’ve passed by @freerangebrooklyn this summer, you may have seen the sunflowers popping out and basking in the sunlight. A huge thank you to our BID board member and owner of Free Range Wine & Spirits, Jack, for his green thumb. When you aren’t admiring the greenery, make sure you check out the store and shop local.

Please be respectful of the wonderful plants, flowers, and trees that make our corridor brighter. As the sign suggests, take photos not flowers! 💚

P.S. Free Range Wine & Spirits regularly hosts free tastings on Thursday evenings too🍷.

Open Monday to Thursday from 1-8:30PM, Friday from 12-9PM, Saturday from 11-9PM, and Sunday from 11-8:30PM.

📍345 Atlantic Avenue

#sunflower #summer #horticulture #smallbusiness

We recently attended the International Downtown Association’s (IDA) 2026 conference in Toronto 🇨🇦. IDA is a convening of organizations, like BIDs, and community representatives from across the world to discuss the challenges, successes, and strategies behind the work we do 🤝.

As a small team, opportunities to hear from our colleagues, both domestic and international, are valuable. We learned that many neighborhood centric organizations deal with similar issues.

Just like our Brooklyn waterfront, Toronto’s waterfront is severed from the urban core by an expressway—the Gardiner.

Like the BQE, these roads are as much psychological barriers as they are physical. Toronto has adapted a treatment plan of making the Gardiner more permeable for pedestrians, like adding an ice/roller rink beneath it and increasing pedestrian lighting (swipe to see)! These activations do not erase the presence of the infrastructure, but it does make it feel a little more human.

From expert panels to candid conversations and real life demonstrations, IDA proves the impact BIDs have on the quality of life for visitors, residents, small businesses, and the cities we serve. ❤️

Shoutout to the amazing NYC BID representation at the conference!

#bid #community #placemaking #conference #neighborhood

#sidestreetsaturday

Getting back into a routine can be tough! Treat yourself to a manicure and pedicure @nailprojectny 💅. Pick a fun pop of color and take advantage of their specialty lavender and mint or aloe spa pedicures, they include a scrub and a foot massage 🫧.

Kids can also tag along to get a mani and pedi! The best part, Nail Project has limited time offers valid Monday through Thursday so make sure you check out their website for more info.

Open Monday to Saturday from 10AM-8PM and Sunday from 10AM-7PM.

📍68 Nevins Street

#atlanticave #brooklyn #nailsart #spa

We were awarded the full amount of a competitive grant in the amount of $100,000 thanks to @nycsmallbiz !

These funds have been transformative for Atlantic Avenue: we’ve expanded the services we provide to the community, from sanitation and beautification to small business support, public programming and many new pieces of public art.

Since 2023, we’ve been awarded $525,000 in SBS grants which we invest directly into the public realm. Atlantic Avenue has never been cleaner, greener, or freshly painted. Have you seen the difference over these past years? Let us know in the comments.

- Kelly, Lilly, Layla, & Brooklyn 🐾

This funding also planted this tree and allowed our team to grow, too. This was 2023 when it was just Kelly and Layla and a bunch of bald, baby trees!

On charming Henry Street just steps from Atlantic Avenue, you’ll find yourself drawn to @harrishomebk. Katherine Harris Foster, resident and shop-owner, welcomes us into her space. “The opportunity for the space kind of presented itself. I felt very strongly about keeping this space in neighborhood hands. I also believe that there are just moments where you either do it or you don’t, so why not?”

“My career has always been grounded in storytelling. Harris Home has been a very natural through line. I’ve always been meant to be an entrepreneur.” Katherine offers interior design services at Harris Home, through her design firm @chiaroscuro_studios which she co-founded and runs with her Amsterdam-based friend Elise Seregni. 🙌

Katherine selects all pieces for the store 🪑. “You can see when people have a connection with a piece or a really deep sense of curiosity and I don’t always know why. They don’t always know why, but that’s a fun experience to witness.”

“It’s been very fun to engage with people that live nearby that I’ve never met before, people coming from all different boroughs and everywhere across the world, and the fellow shop owners. I feel like I’ve in particular really connected with the folks at @cabinmodern and @darlingshopnyc and @collyersmansion . It’s this micro design district of Atlantic and Henry that I think is really fun.”

On working for herself, Katherine says, “Being a small business owner is definitely not easy, but it gives me a lot of agency. It’s important to welcome small businesses in a way that’s pretty antithetical to our societal demands to have convenience and polished things. If we want small businesses to survive, we have to challenge that. I’ve been given a lot of grace from the community and feel empowered to do this at the pace that it can and should be done.”

Katherine welcomes the community to join her September 19-20 from 2-5PM for a Harris Home-warming. Let’s gather to celebrate six months of the shop and welcome everyone back from summer. 💚

Open Saturday-Sunday from 2-5PM, or catch Katherine at the shop “by chance”, or by appointment.

📍331 Henry Street

#atlanticavenue #smallbuisness #antique #home #furniture

#sidestreetsaturday

We’re always working to spruce up the district! While we are glad that our flowers and trees are able to soak up all of this water, these summer storms ☔️ have also allowed unruly weeds to grow.

We want our horticulture to not only survive but thrive 👏!Thanks to @thehort, we have been able to identify and tackle a few problem areas. Swipe to see some of the dramatic transformations 😁.

#atlanticave #horticulture #rain #community

Many thanks @brooklynpaper for reporting on the @nycmayor’s plans for BQE Central 🚙

We know how convoluted a solution for BQE Central is. That is why this nightmare strip of highway keeps getting passed on to future administrations until it has reached its (actual) structural breaking point. $4B enshrines harm for 40 more years to keep the cars and trucks safe, but what about pedestrians?

On Atlantic Avenue, examine the violence: these downed or missing pedestrian signals illustrate the perilous conditions for people trying to access Brooklyn Bridge Park. 🚷 This chronic destruction results from the force and speed of vehicles accessing the BQE. The signals are then replaced, only to be mowed over again the following week. It doesn’t make any sense.

Its pollution and harm extend beyond BQE Central, of course. We are eager to see how this project evolves, and remain hopeful that fringe benefits for our neighborhood and the other BQE-impacted communities may be on the table.

Brooklyn Paper article written by: Kirstyn Brendlen

#atlanticave #traffic #bqe #urbanplanning #pedestrian

Today, August 26th, is National Dog Day🐾. We took our favorite BID intern and community outreach associate Brooklyn, to @visitbuzzy! The BUZZY team was thrilled to have a furry friend in the shop and Brooklyn enjoyed a lil pup cup 😋.

BUZZY is celebrating the holiday and offering free pup cups to all pets and a treat for their owners/companions, 10% off your BUZZY purchase 🙌. Visit them and learn more about cannabis from their amazing team.

Open everyday from 8AM-10PM.

📍137 Court Street

#atlanticave #nationaldogday #dog #pets #brooklyn