The sky was clear with sunny weather and as soon as the street fair opened crowds of people came pouring in.
The street fair brought together diverse crowds and people of all ages together.
It featured a variety of activities for everyone, including jumpers for children to play in and live performances.
The fair also had a mix of different vendors selling and giving away complimentary items to visitors.
Some of the vendors were also advertising and offering different types of services and lessons for visitors.
Raising Cane’s stand e.g., gave away free lemonade and complimentary items such as Cane’s themed wristbands and pet bandanas.
The City of Downey Fire Department was also present and in their stand they offered free life saving CPR lessons to visitors.
Shortly after the event started, however, a large group of pro-life advocates marched through the fair in what was a quick but peaceful protest through the fair.
One of the vendors present at the fair was Manuel Sifuentes from Pico Rivera.
Sifuentes was there on behalf of his father to promote their business Manny’s Bobble Heads and sell some merchandise.
Their business first started in 2011 after Sifuentes’ father noticed that he liked collecting items as a kid which led to him starting a business selling collectibles.
One of Sifuentes main products includes a variety of different Funko Pops, “I don’t really see that many people selling pops, in like the quantity that I do or the quality… we just sell normal models, if not some of the special ones too.”
Despite bobble heads being the main theme of the business, Sifuentes says that their most popular item at the fair were their miniature Loungefly bags.
“They’re the same as you would get from Disneyland, same quality and we get them and we sell them,” Sifuentes said.
Another vendor present at the fair was Daniel Sophomore, a massage therapist from Long Beach who was representing Reform Chiropractic.
“We offer a lot of different services to help people with all kinds of medical conditions, different back pain, knee pain, any kind of musculoskeletal ligamentous injuries that they have and so we’re a full service business.”
What sets Reform Chiropractic apart from other businesses is their patient-specific approach to treatment, providing a range of services including medical massage, chiropractic, x-rays, cryotherapy and compression therapy, Sophomore said.
The massage therapist also encourages aspiring vendors to sign up for events like the Downey Street Fair to connect with their local community and to get their names out there.
Jenny Cocon, representing Code 4 Private Security, resides in Long Beach and is also the HR Manager for the company.
“I believe we have a strong staff and we’re a veteran owned company as well, veteran run,” Cocon said.
Cocon also mentioned that she enjoys attending street fairs to meet residents and connect with the community.
Jesse Ceballos Jr., a resident of Norwalk, was also present at the fair as a visitor.
Ceballos Jr. mentioned that he came to the event to see all the activity and energy. He enjoyed the variety of activities and vendors present at the fair.
The Norwalk resident also recommends that people and their families should attend events like this to enjoy all the activities and have a good time.
“This was a good experience, like I said I’m looking forward to coming here next year and hopefully they have more vendors to watch this thing grow.”