Celebrating Brooklyn in All Its Hipster Glory in NYC
There's nothing that must be done on a weekday evening that can't be done with a pint in one hand. Thankfully, the City of New York understands this. While you may not get away with ambling through Brooklyn's Prospect Park with a summer ale on your person (then again, you might...), there are two bars set up inside the Band Shell during Celebrate Brooklyn's live performances. The summer series has been going 30 years strong, rejuvenating the once ailing bohemian borough's arts scene through free music, dance, theater, and film events. And the consumption of copious amounts of "liquid muse." How else do you think they booked acts like David Byrne, Philip Glass, Animal Collective, and Talib Kweli?
Sunday morning, 6:00 am. I want to sleep in, but my dog Taggart has other plans. Before I know it, we’re on our way to Tag’s favorite place—Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Why the urgency to get there so early? Because before 9:00 am, dogs are allowed to be off leash in the park. They get to frolic freely without being penned into a run that doesn’t allow for Tag’s favorite pastime, Frisbee. Little dogs chase big ones. Puppies learn the ropes from older dogs. The air is quickly filled with the sounds of yips and barks, “Good boy!” and “Drop it!” But when we arrive around 6:30 am, it’s still quiet and peaceful. And as soon as I let the Frisbee fly and Tag leaps through the air to make a perfect catch, I can’t help but smile. Forget bed. This place at this time is the perfect escape.
Landscape architects Olmsted and Vaux designed Prospect Park with social equality in mind as the sun set on the 19th century—their vision is even clearer at the dawn of the 21st. Summer days draw a singularly diverse crowd of Brooklynites into the grassy arena of Long Meadow for barbecues, ball games, and sunbathing. Kites strain skyward on their strings; dogs run free of the leash after far-flung frisbees. You wander into the verdant shadows of Brooklyn’s only forest, where a sense of eternity cloaks the city’s chaos. Exit by the park’s Northwest gates for regal views of Grand Army Plaza and, on Saturdays, the entrance to Brooklyn’s biggest greenmarket.
There's nothing that must be done on a weekday evening that can't be done with a pint in one hand. Thankfully, the City of New York understands this. While you may not get away with ambling through Brooklyn's Prospect Park with a summer ale on your person (then again, you might...), there are two bars set up inside the Band Shell during Celebrate Brooklyn's live performances. The summer series has been going 30 years strong, rejuvenating the once ailing bohemian borough's arts scene through free music, dance, theater, and film events. And the consumption of copious amounts of "liquid muse." How else do you think they booked acts like David Byrne, Philip Glass, Animal Collective, and Talib Kweli?
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