stopped by the other day. early afternoon is the way to go. things are fresh, they're just starting to get going, and best of all no one is there. everyone I know complains about prices every year, but IMO you can eat pretty damn well off of $15. try doing that in that neighborhood any other time of year.

few things about the nydn article:
the thing about the guys literally taking dollar bills off the statue seems like bullshit. making it sound like some bottom feeding wiseguy is out there grabbing the bills off the moving statue as it passes by. more likely is that the final talley of the statue bills is skimmed after its counted, but even that i dont believe.

the overhead for that fest has to be very high, legitimately. so for the organization being a little off of what the average operating vs donations percentage is compared to other non profits shouldnt be a crazy red flag.