"It brings joy to my heart': Old Timers Festival creator says

PARK SLOPE, Brooklyn (PIX11) – How many times do you wish you could go back to your old neighborhood and see your old childhood friends?

Well, a Brooklynite grew up in Park Slope and did just that.

John Lee created the Old Timer’s Festival, now in its fourth year, with his own money.

“You can’t put a price tag on people,” John Lee, the creator of the Old Timer’s Festival, told PIX11 News.

Lee created this Old Timer’s Festival during COVID-19 in 2020.

The idea was to bring childhood friends together in the old neighborhood and have fun reminiscing.

“It brings joy to my heart to see my old friend and see all the people come together and have a good time on a happy occasion,” Lee told PIX11 News.

The queen of this festival is 93-year-old Consuela Fenton, who grew up right in this neighborhood of the festival at Fifth Avenue and Fourth Street.

Her daughters, who now live in New Jersey and Schenectady, just had to be here as well.

“It’s nice to be back,” Renee Richardson, Consuelo’s daughter, told PIX11 News. “To see the old neighborhood, old friends, the school where we all went to,” she added.  

New York City Council member Shahana Hanif announced a $5000 city grant to the Old Stone House to record the oral histories of these old-timers.

“We are trying to capture their stories,” said Dylan Yeats, a scholar in residence at Old Stone House.

“We are documenting the unity and diversity still spreading its wings in Brooklyn,” Natasha Fearon, museum educator at Lefferts Homestead House, told PIX11 News.

The festival creator was so generous. John Lee even invited this PIX11 reporter to play a little flute with the band before white balloons were released into the sky to remind us that those were no longer with us.

The Fifth Annual Old Timers Festival will be on August 9th, 2025.