Summer in the City

What’s Happening in Park Slope

by Bianca Jordan

It’s summertime in the Slope and time to take out the calendars. All sorts of organizations, small businesses, local groups, and city offices have been planning for the summer, and now it’s time to take advantage of the all that the neighborhood has to offer.  Use this guide to plan your summer and learn about just a few of the many activities that you can enjoy while the warm weather lasts.

Entertainment for your Ears: Music Events

This is the 30th anniversary of one of New York's highest profile summer concert series, Celebrate Brooklyn! As usual, the musical line-up is impressive and broad-ranging, and the outdoor setting in Prospect Park is ideal. For a small donation, anyone is welcome to concerts featuring artists like Medeski, Martin & Wood, who are known for their "freaky funk," as well as the UK singer-songwriter Beth Orton, Brooklynites Taylor McFerrin and hip-hop group the Crooklyn Dodgers, as well as the Philip Glass Ensemble, and the Metropolis Ensemble, which will interpret Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring." A full schedule of Celebrate Brooklyn! events is freely available throughout the neighborhood and online.

Other music events will take place in the park, thanks to the Prospect Park Alliance. Enjoy fireworks and a free concert under the stars on July 14th, when Alan Gilbert conducts works by Mozart, Beethoven, and Sibelius. Later on August 3rd, hang out at the Bandshell from 2 to 9 p.m. at the African Guitar Festival.

Old Stone House will present an eclectic mix of performances during its summer concert series, including Opera on Tap on July 1st and 15th, the acoustic music and bluegrass band Astrograss on July 8th, and the world grooves group Buzz Universe on July 22nd.

Though summer will be unofficially over by September 12th, it doesn't mean the music stops. Mountain Redbird Music will host the Park Slope Old-Time & Bluegrass Jamboree. The event will run for a day-and-a-half until the 13th at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, and will include concerts, workshops and jamming.

The Big Screen: Film Showings

Film buffs and couch potatoes, this is your summer. Organizations throughout the neighborhood have organized movie nights, many of which will be held outside. Old Stone House, for example, will hold an outdoor Brooklyn Film Festival series every Wednesday in July, with a focus on American and presidential history. Check out, for example, "1776," "The Manchurian Candidate," and "Dave."

Experience Bruce Lee's seminal martial arts film, "Enter the Dragon," in a new way on July 19th: head to Prospect Park where Celebrate Brooklyn! will hold a special film screening that incorporates live music as Karsh Kale and his band perform their new score.

The Brooklyn Museum caters to those who prefer to stay indoors or wish to learn more about the neighborhood's cultural heritage. On July 5th, free tickets are available for "Waiting For Happiness," set in a West African coastal town and directed by Abderrahmane Sissako. The film is a touching reflection on themes of exile, travel, belonging and displacement. Visitors can also score free tickets to the feature-length film "Watch Life Is to Whistle" and the short "Barrel Children" on August 2nd. The first film is funny and uplifting, the second poignant; both provide insights into Caribbean culture. Finally, on July 12th the museum will present two new films by women directors that explore women's issues in partnership with P.O.V., the longest running showcase on television for independent, non-fiction film. A question-and-answer session follows.

Workouts: Group Exercise

The Gowanus Dredgers will participate in the Brooklyn Borough President's annual cardiovascular program by promoting walk-up canoeing and bicycle tours throughout the month of June. Gowanus canoeing events depart from 2nd Street near Bond Street. Walking tours depart from the 9th Street F/G Subway entrance near Smith Street. Bicycle tours depart from Brooklyn Borough Hall at Court and Joralemon Streets. Also in June, take advantage of opportunities to help the club clean while learning more about the canal at the "Gowanus Discovery Tour and Shoreline Cleaning" events.

Get in shape, meet new people, and express yourself artistically through Capoeira dance. Raízes do Brasil Capoeira Brooklyn is offering workshops, outdoor Saturday classes and other events for students and community members of all ages this summer. Beginners are welcome and will be introduced to the art's movements, music and history. Dance into the fall season by checking out the group's September 20th Batizado event. It will take place at P.S. 77, 62 Park Place and will host also Capoeira masters from Brazil and California while celebrating the initiation of newcomers into the world of Capoeira and the advancement of more experience dancers to a higher level.

The Art of Movement: Dance Performances

Big acts are coming to Prospect Park as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn! concert series, including the Mark Morris Dance Group on July 31st and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on August 7th. Dancers and dance enthusiasts of all ages and abilities can join two free, interactive dance classes prior to the performance, at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. at the Prospect Park Picnic House.

Experience dance in a uniquely participatory manner with the Artichoke Dance Company. Use the company's Web site (see sidebar) to download music before arriving at a performances or rent a preloaded device. Because everyone can hear different music than the person next to them, the experience of each audience member is typically unique. The company also choreographs events that require audiences to use a map to follow the performances. The map guides them to places like store front windows, street benches and coffee shops. This is a great idea for lively kids who might enjoy dance if they are given the option to move around instead of just sit still.

Before it heads off to the Beijing Olympics this summer, the Silver-Brown Dance Company will perform at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn on July 20th. The group will be touring internationally, so this is a great opportunity to catch their act. For those unfamiliar with the company, its mission is to make avant-garde dance accessible and relevant.

Thespians and Bards: Theatrical Productions

No summer is complete without seeing a Shakespeare in the Park performance. This summer, forget about Central Park and long ticket lines: check out Old Stone House and the Piper Theater Company's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which will run throughout July. At the end of the month, the theater company will also perform "Alice in Wonderland," "Lord of the Flies," "The Witches," "Dracula," "Tiny Masters of the Universe" and "The Plush Interior."

For those who want to catch a performance of Shakespeare in the Park in Central Park, the Brooklyn Children's Museum will be distributing free tickets for the Public Theater and Central Park's "Hamlet" on June 16th at 1 p.m. The tickets are first-come, first-serve for that evening's performance only.

Catch a special staged reading from June 6th-22nd at the Gallery Players of "The Resurrection of Dismas and Gestas." The play by contemporary writer By Jacob M. Appel and will be performed by professional actors, and will bring the best of New York's talent to Park Slope's doorstep.

Fun for the Little Guys: Activities for the Kids

Father Goose adapts popular children's music with his unique blend of folktale, Reggae, rap, calypso pop and traditional childrens styles, which he rolls into one. He will headline the August 2nd Ezra Jack Keats Family Concert organized by Celebrate Brooklyn! Other family-friendly acts like the Sippy Cups and Sonia Manzano, aka Maria from "Sesame Street" will perform that day at 4 p.m., too.

This July, kids can join The Peanut Gallery, "a musical theater summer adventure camp" run by The Gallery Players. Taught by professional theater artists, kids will create and perform an original show with songs from Broadway musicals. This is a great opportunity for kids to have fun outside of school and develop their creative sides in a group setting.

Prospect Park is holding several events for children of all ages. Check out the free Summer at the Green on Mondays through Fridays, from July 7th to August 15th. Park staff and Youth Council members will supervise children of all ages as they participate in arts and crafts, team-building exercises, conflict resolution workshops, gardening, drama, nature tours and explorations, and more. Kids can also enjoy the Youth Council Harvest and Open House on August 16th. Learn how to harvest home-grown produce, including pumpkin squash, carrots, broccoli, peas and cucumbers.

Older youth can build a professional Muppet-style puppet by attending one of The Puppetry Arts Theatre and The Pottery Café's weekly workshops. Workshops are scheduled throughout the month of the July. At the end of each week The Puppetry Arts Theatre will host an ice cream party exhibiting students' completed works.

The Brooklyn Arts Exchange will hold a Puppet Parade on August 15th. Head to anywhere between 8th Street to JJ Byrne Park on Fifth Avenue to check out the puppets created by the neighborhood's youth during the BAX's Junior Summer Arts Program. Anyone can participate in the parade, not just parents and kids.

Finally, the Brooklyn Museum offers a wide variety of programs for teens, youth and families, as well as a gallery/studio program for children and adults. Registrants will learn how to work with clay, make masks, create photography collages, understand the galleries through education and more.

Everything Else: from Pets to Flea Markets

The range of events taking place this summer in Park Slope is outstanding and no one guide can do justice to all that's been planned. The local dog-owners club FIDO, for example, is hosting a June 27th Pupnic that begins at 5 p.m., and also a 10th Anniversary Celebration. This major off-leash event takes place August 2nd in the Long Meadow and provides microchipping for dogs (and cats), information booths galore, music, adoptions, balloons and festivities. Plus dog owners can take their best friends every day of the summer from 7 to 9 a.m. to the doggy beach at Long Meadow, where they may unleash their pets and let them carelessly splash through the water.

Other Prospect Park events include Thursday-nights wine and cheese evenings at the Audubon Center, Independence Day festivities, a celebration of slavery's emancipation on July 5th at Lefferts Historic House, stargazing for beginners on July 9th, an annual Macy's Fishing Contest on July 16th, an Arab-American Heritage Festival on the 20th, an August 3rd Bird Walk, and much more.

Old Stone House is hosting a Battle Week in August, when it will commemorate and reenact the Battle of Brooklyn from August 27, 1776.

Summer Reading will be encouraged at Brooklyn Public Library branches throughout the season with regular book discussions and an Ezra Jack Keats Story Time and Take-a-Book event on June 26th (at the Central Library, Youth Wing). Also check out the Central Library's exhibitions from June 17th through August 30th; they include "Art Imagination," book art, images inspired by fairy tales, photographic portraits of the world's waterfronts, words presented as images, and more.

There's always a party at the Brooklyn Museum. Viva Africa uses films, talks, music and dance to explore African culture on July 5th. On August 2nd, get ready for West Indian-American Day Carnival at the museum's outdoor plaza with steel pan music, stilt walkers, Carnival costumes, film, music, theater, dance and more from all across the Caribbean. Free Target First Saturdays events are sophisticated yet fun events held regularly the First Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. And, don't miss this year's Summer Jazz Series, run in partnership with WBGO radio station and the Heart of Brooklyn. The series will present three afternoons of hot summer jazz that feature vibraphonist Stefon Harris (July 20th), bassist-vocalist-composer Richard Bona (August 16th) and saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen (September 14).

Finally, not far from Park Slope is the Brooklyn Flea, a flea market held every Sunday on Lafayette Avenue between Clermont and Vanderbilt. Beyond shopping, visitors can purchase Blue Marble Ice Cream and pupusas (a favorite food of Salvadorans), hear on-site DJ music and concerts held at the Masonic Temple across the street, and catch other entertainment.

To think, this guide to summer events is just scratching the surface. The season for fun in the sun will be over before you even know it.