On Sunday afternoon, June 19, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., the Museum at Eldridge Street will present its 16th annual Egg Rolls, Egg Creams & Empanadas Festival, a joyous celebration of the diverse ethnic communities of the Museum’s Lower East Side neighborhood. With the Museum’s magnificent home, the 1887 landmark Eldridge Street Synagogue, as its centerpiece, the festival spills out onto the street with a mash-up of Jewish, Chinese and Puerto Rican tastes, traditions, sights and sounds.
What to expect?
- Klezmer, cantorial, mambo, salsa and Chinese folk music
- Chinese opera and Yiddish folk dancing
- Hebrew and Chinese scribal art
- Puerto Rican mask making
- Kreplach, dumpling and empanada demos, challah braiding
- Mah jongg, dominoes, crafts for kids and more!
- Mini-tours of the historic Eldridge Street Synagogue
- And of course, Egg Rolls, Egg Creams and Empanadas, all kosher!
The festival lies at the heart of the Museum’s mission to celebrate both the Eastern European Jewish heritage embodied by our landmark site, and also the continuing immigrant community of our neighborhood.
The Festival was originally named for two foods – the Egg Roll and the Egg Cream – that are associated with the Jewish and the Chinese communities of our neighborhood. Few people realize that those foods were in fact American innovations and not foods from the Old Country. This is the perfect metaphor for our Festival which celebrates each immigrant group’s encounter with America.
Last year, the Museum added Empanadas to the title, extending our celebration to the Puerto Rican community of the area. While empanadas are native to the Puerto Rican culture, there have been innovations in the way they are served up in the United States.
The Egg Rolls & Egg Creams Festival will be held, rain or shine, on Sunday, June 19 from 12 – 4 p.m.
The Festival takes place inside and on the block of the Museum at Eldridge Street at 12 Eldridge Street between Canal and Division Streets.
This event is FREE.
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