Rosendale Ramblings By Sari Botton

It’s hard not to notice a growing connection between Brooklyn and Rosendale. There’s a shared gritty-chic aesthetic that has kept people slowly but steadily migrating here from Park Slope, Williamsburg, Red Hook and other Kings County neighborhoods.

Here’s the latest evidence: at the Rosendale Street Festival, wedged in among the run-of-the-mill Italian ices and soft serve, there was a truck serving Wine Cellar Sorbets, a much buzzed-about foodie favorite hailing from Brooklyn, with flavors like Pinot Noir, Mimosa, Champagne, Reisling, Sake and so on.

Another truck offered “artisanal southern snow cones” in flavors like Hand-Picked Boysenberry and Wedding Cake.

I find myself imagining – wishing, maybe – that vendors like these could find a permanent place here in town. I say “maybe” because while I want the town to grow, I also want it to remain, for the most part, authentic and unpretentious.

Sure, we can’t even keep a grocery store in business. But what if that abandoned little Fotomat booth at the edge of Fann’s plaza were to become some kind of cool ice cream kiosk…?