The Larchmont Family Fair Is Sunday. Here's What It Pays For on the Boulevard

One of the new benches on Larchmont Boulevard is painted French blue and has a third armrest in the middle. According to Larchmont Buzz, its plaque reads "Hancock Park Garden Club, Established 1963, Supporting the Beautification of our Community, and the Love of Gardening." The club paid for it. That bench, the hand-watered planters along the sidewalk and the business-hours security patrol are all paid for by volunteers raising money a few hundred or a few thousand dollars at a time. The Larchmont Family Fair, back this Sunday for the 61st time, is that same kind of fundraising, done for one afternoon in the middle of the street.

Here's what you need for Sunday, October 25:

• Hours: Noon to 5 p.m., with Larchmont closed to cars between Beverly Boulevard and First Street
• Cost: Free admission. Ride tickets are $2 each, and rides take 2 to 6 tickets. Tickets are sold only at the fair.
• Theme: Fantasy, with a fantasy reading presented by Chevalier's Books, Meet the Fairies, a Dragon Alley, a costume contest, children's bands, face painting, and witch characters walking the boulevard
• Farmers market: The Larchmont Chronicle reports that the Larchmont Village Farmers Market will run alongside the fair in its usual spot

A fair that has to cover its own costs first

The Larchmont Boulevard Association has run the fair since 1965. According to Larchmont Buzz, it draws an estimated 10,000 visitors a year. The money starts with booths and sponsorships. Local businesses, schools and nonprofits rent booths, and sponsors pick up pieces of the day: $1,000 for the costume contest, and $500 each for the face painter, the small children's activities, two hours of fairy appearances, two hours of witch characters, or the children's performers band. That money pays for the fair, and whatever is left goes back into beautification and security on the boulevard.

Every booth and sponsorship has to cover a stage, rides, a closed street and an afternoon of programming before anything is left for the street itself. LBA President Romi Cortier described the payoff this way to Larchmont Buzz:

"Proceeds from the Family Fair support the beautification work of the Larchmont Boulevard Association. Thanks to the support we have received, we have made significant improvements to the landscaping and seating on Larchmont Boulevard, but there's much more we'd like to do."

Neither the LBA nor the local press publishes how much the fair raises or nets. That keeps the fair one funding source among several, and the others are small.

A streetscape run on four-figure budgets

The LBA calls itself a volunteer cooperative of businesses, professional firms and property owners. Its member benefits page says membership dues pay for a business-hours security patrol, flowers in the planters, the December decorations on the light poles, and the October fair. In 2025, Larchmont Buzz reported annual dues of $300.

The LBA's beautification page lists a landscaping budget of $7,500, of which just over $1,000 had been raised when the page was written. Because the LBA is a merchant association rather than a nonprofit, the page says donations are not tax-deductible. The LBA also sells branded merchandise at Tailwaggers, Romi Cortier Design and some Sunday farmers markets, and the proceeds go back into the boulevard.

Here's what those budgets have paid for so far:

None of these numbers is large. The garden club's $1,000 donation, as Cortier described it to Larchmont Buzz, paid to replant the city parking lot beds with native plants and to put in two crape myrtles. The sidewalk pots have no irrigation system and have to be watered by hand, and Cortier thanked the boulevard businesses that help keep them watered. The two medians have no irrigation either. Lisa B, owner of Virgo Designs, chose agaves, elephant bush, string of pearls and string of dolphins because they can get by without it.

Two organizations working the same sidewalk

Larchmont actually has two groups paying for the street. The second is the Larchmont Village Business Improvement District, which commercial property owners created in 1998. Property owners pay assessments to the City, and that money comes back as services within the district, which covers the stretch from Beverly Boulevard to First Street. That's the same stretch of the boulevard that closes for the fair.

The two groups split the work. The BID pays for the daily trash pickup and the cornflower-blue cans. The Larchmont Chronicle reported in January 2025 that the BID also paid for the seasonal poinsettias in the medians and the hot-pink flowers in the planters. The LBA handles the benches, most of the planting, the security patrol and the fair. Over time, the BID plans to replace all 20 green Big Belly trash cans in Larchmont Village with open-top 32-gallon cans.

The two groups coordinated on purpose. The benches and cans both come from DuMor Site Furnishings and are the same type used at the Beverly Hills park along Santa Monica Boulevard. Larchmont's muted blue finish is its own, though. The benches and cans carry a 20-year warranty on the metal and a 5-year warranty on the graffiti-resistant paint.

The names on the benches

The bench program shows most clearly how the boulevard gets paid for. The LBA describes the idea, called "Larchmont Blue," as replacing the old wooden benches, which sat only on the west side of the street in the village. The goal is matching blue benches on both sides, carried up into upper Larchmont, each paid for by one of the boulevard's longtime families.

In January 2025, the Larchmont Chronicle put the cost of each bench at $3,200. That April, Larchmont Buzz reported on benches honoring longtime families, including a $3,200 commitment from the Llanos siblings. By September 2025, the Buzz listed more donors, among them Tailwaggers owner Todd Warner, the Hancock Park Garden Club and the Carney family. In July 2026, the Buzz counted seven new French-blue benches sponsored by local families and organizations. The LBA's current price is $3,600 per bench, which includes the plaque, shipping and installation.

At that price, one bench costs more than three times the fair's largest single sponsorship, the $1,000 costume contest. The costume contest sponsorship and all five $500 sponsorships together come to $3,500, which is still $100 less than one bench.

The sponsor list as a directory of the boulevard

Because the fair runs on local money, this year's sponsor list reads like a directory of the boulevard. As of the Larchmont Buzz preview, it includes Levain Bakery, Max & Helen's, Suá Superette, Color Me Mine, Tailwaggers, Larchmont Pediatrics, POLAM Credit Union, Wilshire Escrow, and the Hancock Park Homeowners Association.

Alfred Coffee is also on the list, even though its Larchmont shop hasn't opened yet. When Larchmont Buzz announced it in July, Alfred was headed for 201 N. Larchmont, the former Pressed Juicery space, with a walk-up window and a drink sold only at that location. The Buzz expected a November opening. One familiar name is missing. Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams closed its shop at 123 N. Larchmont on September 27 when its lease ended, after nearly a decade on the boulevard. Larchmont Buzz reported that Chamberlain Coffee is taking the space and is expected to open sometime next year.

Melissa Farwell, the LBA vice president coordinating the fair, told the Buzz that sponsors had paid for several new free activities for kids this year and that organizers "could still use more sponsors." Sponsorships are still open. All sponsors at $250 and above get their logo on banners, flyers and the stage backdrop, and the LBA welcomes donations of any amount.

Spending Sunday on the closed street

The closed stretch from Beverly to First is the same stretch where the BID's trash crews work every day and where the LBA has put its blue benches, so the fair takes place on the street it helps pay for. Last year's 60th anniversary fair had a train running up and down the boulevard, bounce houses, a food court, a mini farmers market, and La Terrazza, a beer and wine garden run by La Bettola. The Chronicle's preview of this year's fair says there will be drinks for adults, food and live kids' music on stage all afternoon, along with booths from local businesses, schools and restaurants.

Bring cash or a card for ride tickets, since they're sold only on site. Come in costume if you have little ones, because the costume contest is one of the main events. And take a look at the planters by the crosswalks. Their spring and summer upkeep depended on local businesses carrying water out to them by hand.

After 27 years in this neighborhood, Olivia Noh knows Larchmont's look depends on the people who pay for it and water it. If you're wondering what that kind of street means for your own home's value, schedule a free home valuation and consultation, and we'll walk through it together.