Tag: Community Engagement

Elizabeth Keegin Colley

7 Springtime Favorites

March 15, 2016

For Brooklynites, the hub of spring is Prospect Park – where the flora blooms brightest, the grass grows greenest, and sunshine is most inviting! Check out this list of our top seven spring pastimes.

Opening Day: On Saturday, April 2, the Prospect Park Alliance rings in the arrival of spring and with it the return of some of our most popular programs and activities. First, join the Alliance and the Prospect Park Baseball Association on Saturday morning, when thousands of youth players parade through Park Slope and celebrate the opening pitch at a newly restored field on the Long Meadow. Then join us for a variety of family-friendly fun as the Alliance kicks off its seasonal programming at the Audubon Center and Lefferts Historic House. 

Smorgasburg: What could possibly make a lazy Sunday morning in Prospect Park better? A delicious picnic provided by highly touted food purveyors. Beginning Sunday, April 3, Smorgasburg returns to Breeze Hill for a full season of showcasing the borough’s finest food in Brooklyn’s most beautiful outdoor setting. So saunter over to the Park’s southeast side, grab a bite from one of the nearly 100 vendors, and then enjoy a sunny Sunday stroll through nature.

Party for the Park: On Thursday, May 12, join the Prospect Park Alliance at the Boathouse for a one-of-a-kind celebration of the Park and the return of warmer weather. If drinks and savory bites from locally renowned establishments, live music, and dancing under the stars constitute your idea of a good time, you just might want to attend. Plus, all proceeds benefit the Alliance, and support the work we do to keep Prospect Park beautiful. Get your tickets today!

Pop-Up Audubon: Pop-Up Audubon makes its triumphant return to the Park on Saturday, April 7, and continues to pop up in various locations across the Park through October, providing fun and informative nature education programming to youth of all ages. Come check out Pop-Up Audubon and learn a bit more about Prospect Park’s flora and fauna! Want to explore the Park further on your own? Later this spring, stay tuned for news about the Alliance’s first app, which will not only help you better explore the Park, but include fun challenges and games that increase your knowledge of Park nature and history.

Spring Blooms: As April turns to May, and May to June, the entire Park will gradually blossom into a floral display of vibrant colors. Check out our bloom guide to make the most of this season, and if you enjoy photography, do not forget to post to Instagram with #ProspectPark to be in the running for our Photo of the Week.

LeFrak Center at Lakeside: On April 9, the LeFrak Center at Lakeside officially kicks off its roller skating season. Stay tuned for some of the most popular seasonal events, including roller derbies and Lola’s Dreamland Disco. If biking is more your speed, enjoy a loop around the lower end of the Park on one of the Center’s surreys, coupes and choppers!

BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival: Celebrate Brooklyn!, one of the city’s premier performing arts festivals, which draws crowds to the Bandshell to enjoy an eclectic lineup of world-class performers, kicks off June 8 with a free performance by Sharon and the Dap-Kings. The full line up of this not-to-miss celebration will be announced later this spring, but you can already get tickets for its benefit concerts, which include Tame Impala (June 14, 15), Beirut (August 2), and more. Check out our Celebrate Brooklyn! page for the latest news.

 

Foodies Rejoice! Smorgasburg Returns to the Park

February 17, 2016

Following a successful pilot run last fall, Smorgasburg is set to return to Prospect Park this spring, this time for a full season of Sundays from April 3 through October 23. The showcase of the best of the borough’s artisanal food scene brings together a massive mix of 100 local and regional vendors with cuisines from around the world. Join the Prospect Park Alliance on Breeze Hill each week to sample a variety of fares, both familiar and exotic.

“We are thrilled to have Smorgasburg return to Prospect Park this year to continue to enliven and enhance the food options available for our many park visitors,” says Prospect Park Alliance President Sue Donoghue. “The partnership with Smorgasburg proved extremely successful in our pilot last year and Park-goers loved having this popular food market in the Park.”

Smorgasburg began in Williamsburg as a spin-off project of Brooklyn Flea found­ers Jonathan Butler and Eric Demby, and has now become a year round, mobile gathering congregating indoors at Industry City in the winter months and outdoors in Prospect Park and the Williamsburg waterfront during the warmer months. “Prospect Park is the best place, let alone park, in New York,” says Demby, “how could we not come back?”

Stay tuned for more information on Smorgasburg, including the eagerly awaited vendor list.

Parks Without Borders: Flatbush Improvements

January 20, 2016

Mayor de Blasio and the Parks Department’s Parks Without Borders initiative will fund $50 million in improvements to city parks to make them more open, accessible and inviting to their surrounding communities. $10 million has already been allocated, but the remaining $40 million of funding is still available, and will be awarded to projects based on community input.

The Prospect Park Alliance has proposed to create a major new major entrance along Flatbush Avenue, and a second, smaller entrance just north of the Prospect Park Zoo. In addition, the existing Park entrance on Flatbush near Empire Boulevard would be reconstructed, ensuring a better Park experience for those visiting the Children’s Corner, which includes Lefferts Historic House, the Prospect Park Zoo and the Carousel.

These entrances would be important enhancements to currently planned improvements to Flatbush Avenue, which will broaden the sidewalk and add new street trees, benches and lighting,  

To make these added improvements a reality, we need your help! To voice your support, follow these steps:

  • Visit the Parks Without Borders website and click “Get Started” on the map.
  • Zoom in on the map to Prospect Park and click anywhere on the Flatbush Avenue border (the Park’s northeast border).
  • Select improvements including, “add new entrance,” “improve accessibility” and “repair paving.”
  • Describe what you would like to see in this area.
    • Sample text: “I support the Prospect Park Alliance’s proposal to create two new entrances, and reconstruct a third entrance on the Flatbush Avenue perimeter of Prospect Park. Prospect Park serves 10 million visitors each year and that number is likely to increase as Brooklyn and the neighborhoods surrounding the Park continue to grow. This important project will not only help beautify an area of the Park that is in desperate need of attention, but more importantly will open up a vital perimeter of the Park that has historically been difficult to access for residents and neighbors in communities bordering the Park.”
  • Click submit.

Thank you for taking an active stance in improving the health of Prospect Park and those it welcomes every day! Voting closes at the end of February, so make your voice heard now.

Neighborhood Play: Stroud Playground

December 15, 2015

The Prospect Park Alliance contributed its design expertise to revitalize Stroud Playground in neighboring Crown Heights, which is an important community amenity as well as outdoor space for two public schools, PS 316 and MS 383. The $5.1 million project is part of Mayor de Blasio’s Community Parks Initiative, a citywide plan orchestrated by NYC Parks to renovate parks in communities with the greatest need through capital funding, programming and strategic partnerships, and also received funding from Council Member Laurie Cumbo.

“The Alliance brings decades of expertise in designing award-winning playgrounds in Prospect Park to this project,” said Alliance President Sue Donoghue. “It is important to share this knowledge with surrounding communities to strengthen and revitalize New York’s diverse green spaces.”

Stroud marks the Alliance’s first major design project outside Prospect Park. In order to further this partnership, the Alliance has also committed to providing pro-bono design services to transform two additional CPI projects in 2016 and 2017. Cumulatively, these three projects will represent a total commitment valued at $700,000 of in-kind support.

The Alliance developed a new design that fits many amenities into a compact, one-acre space. In a public forum held last December, the community voiced a strong desire for basketball courts, play spaces, ample lighting, and areas for parties and picnics. These elements are incorporated into the design, along with new play equipment and water features, shaded seating areas and picnic tables, handball courts, a jogging track, a turf field with misting spray and a quiet garden that can serve as an outdoor classroom.

“One of the most important parts of the renovation is how we are opening up the playground to the surrounding neighborhood,” said Justine Heilner, Alliance Senior Landscape Architect. “The design removed chain-link fencing to create a more accessible and engaging space, and new trees will be planted along the perimeter to create a green and inviting entranceway.”

Environmental sustainability and cost efficiency also played a major role in the redesign. The project will reuse some of the existing materials for benches and paving. Energy efficient lighting will be installed, and nearly 30 new trees will be planted. The Alliance and NYC Parks are also working closely with the Department of Environmental Protection on storm water management strategies. Rain gardens, porous paving and underground detention tanks will absorb storm water runoff not only from the playground itself but also the surrounding streets.

Stroud Playground construction begins in September 2017 and expected to take approximately one year to complete.

Stroud Playground Featured in The New York Times

November 13, 2015

The Prospect Park Alliance and its support of the City’s Community Parks Initiative is featured in The New York Times, in connect with the pro-bono design services that the Alliance is providing to redesign Stroud Playground in neighboring Crown Heights. The Alliance has committed to providing pro-bono design services for three CPI projects, with two other projects to be determined in the coming year. The Community Parks Initiative is a multi-faceted investment in smaller public parks located in dense and growing neighborhoods with higher-than-average concentrations of poverty. Stroud marks the Alliance’s first major design project outside Prospect Park. 

c. Martin Seck

Halloween in Prospect Park

October 20, 2015

The Prospect Park Alliance presents its 36th Annual Halloween Haunted Walk and Fair on Saturday, October 24, from 12 to 3 pm. Join us on Lookout Hill and the Nethermead for an afternoon of free ghoulish fun.

Encounter zombies, werewolves, good (and not-so-good) witches, and other Halloween characters on a haunted walk through the winding paths of Lookout Hill, ideal for families with children ages 7-12. All ages can enjoy the Halloween Fair on the Nethermead, featuring family-friendly activities, as well as sweet and savory treats from some of the city’s best food trucks. This year, learn to draw Snoopy with Blue Sky Studio artists and meet the famous beagle from The Peanuts Movie.

Halloween activities will take place all weekend long throughout the Park. Discover spooky creatures at the Audubon Center at its annual Creepy Crawly Halloween, and get chills with Scary Stories at Lefferts Historic House with master storyteller Tammy Hall. Take a spin on the 1912 Carousel to your favorite Halloween jams, and enjoy Boo at the Zoo at the Prospect Park Zoo.

Learn more about Halloween in Prospect Park.

We need you! Volunteer to help the Prospect Park Alliance with this event. Sign up today as an actor, tour guide, make-up artist, or other behind-the-scenes roles!

The Prospect Park Alliance Halloween Haunted Walk and Fair is made possible through the support of the following sponsors:

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Media Partners

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News 12 Brooklyn

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Improving Neighborhood Parks: Epiphany Playground

September 7, 2015

NYC Parks and the Prospect Park Alliance have unveiled the design for the $2.9 million renovation of Epiphany Playground in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The Alliance provided pro-bono design services for the project, which is being funded through NYC Parks’ Community Parks Initiative (CPI) as well as through the support of Council Member Stephen Levin.

Epiphany Playground is the Alliance’s second design for NYC Parks’ Community Parks Initiative, a multi-faceted investment in smaller public parks located in dense and growing neighborhoods with higher-than-average concentrations of poverty.
The Alliance’s design renovates the space by adding new play equipment for children of all ages, a gentle water feature, a multipurpose free-play area and sport courts, including a junior-sized basketball court with an additional hoop for shooting practice and one handball court.

In order to make the Park more open and inviting, the design removes high shrubs along the fence line and replaces them with small trees, lower shrubs and perennials and adds a new entrance at Berry and South Tenth Streets. Bench seating and café-style tables will be placed throughout the playground, as well as two bottle-filler drinking fountains and new trash receptacles.

Street trees will be added on all three sides of the site to provide shade and create a green, inviting border. Additionally, security lighting will be added to improve site visibility and enhance safety throughout the evening hours. In collaboration with the NYC Department of Environmental Preservation, green infrastructure will also be installed to help capture stormwater runoff.

The project is scheduled to begin construction in 2017.

Smorgasburg Comes to Prospect Park

August 17, 2015

Smorgasburg is coming to Prospect Park! Beginning August 30, join us on Breeze Hill every Sunday for 100 local and regional food vendors showcasing cuisines from around the world—from Ramen Burgers and Mighty Quinn’s Barbecue to Excell’s Kingston Eatery’s jerk chicken and Salvadoran pupusas—in a leafy setting that includes a grassy, tree-shaded seating area.

“Providing the community with new ways to enjoy the Park, and more food options, is important to the Alliance,” said Sue Donoghue, president of the Prospect Park Alliance. “Bringing Smorgasburg to Breeze Hill is a wonderful way to enliven an underutilized area on the Park’s east side, near popular park destinations such as the LeFrak Center at Lakeside and the Audubon Center at the Boathouse.”

Smorgasburg is a spin-off of Brooklyn Flea, the popular flea market founded by Jonathan Butler and Eric Demby in 2008 that has become one of Brooklyn’s most popular destinations for locals and visitors alike. Smorgasburg is moving to Prospect Park from Brooklyn Bridge Park. “We’re sad to leave Brooklyn Bridge Park, but it’s hard to complain when our new home is literally Brooklyn’s backyard,” said Demby.

The 100 vendors and small businesses of Smorgasburg Prospect Park will include longtime favorites such as Red Hook Lobster Pound, Milk Truck Grilled Cheese, and People Pop’s, as well as popular newcomers such as Home Frite (fresh-cut fries), Big Mozz (hand-stretched mozzarella), and Best Buds Burritos (carne asada burritos with French fries inside). 

Learn more about upcoming dates and location.

c. Virginia Freire

Audubon Takes Flight

April 14, 2015

From Nature Play to Bird Nerds Game Hour, this spring the Prospect Park Alliance is offering a slate of new and expanded free nature programs. Starting Saturday, April 18, the Alliance will open the Audubon Center at the historic Boathouse for weekend activities, add a second tent to its popular Pop-Up Audubon program, and launch Discovery Packs, ready-to-go kits filled with activities for families.

“The Alliance offers more than 800 programs serving 75,000 visitors each year throughout the Park, including the Audubon Center,” said Alliance President Sue Donoghue. “Providing families from neighborhoods across Brooklyn – and all over the city – with fun, creative ways to explore and learn about the Park’s natural areas and wildlife is an important part of our mission.”

The Prospect Park Audubon Center was established in 2002 through an innovative partnership between the Prospect Park Alliance and Audubon New York as the first Audubon Center in an urban park. Families are able to directly engage with nature through fun, play-based activities such as bird watching, catch-and-release fishing and citizen science projects. The expanded programming reflects both the popularity of Audubon activities with visitors, as well as the Alliance’s focus on increasing access to Park amenities for surrounding communities. 

Every Saturday and Sunday, the Alliance will offer family-friendly nature programming from 10 am until 1 pm at the Boathouse, such as Nature Play, an innovative game-centered approach to connecting kids with the great outdoors, and Blooming Naturalists, which introduces families to the Park’s vast variety of birds. The Alliance’s popular Pop-Up Audubon program, which launched in 2013 and occurs at locations around the Park, will double the fun with a second tent that explores the Park’s aquatic habitats.

In addition, Discovery Packs will be available at the Audubon Center and new Pop-Up Audubon tent that families can borrow to explore the Park. Similar to Pop-Up Audubon, the Discovery Packs will feature a new theme each month. In April, participants will play Habitat Bingo, searching for specific birds then designing nests. 

Check out the full schedule of programs.

c. Paul Martinka

Brooklyn Ice

March 16, 2015

This winter, Brooklyn Ice, a nonprofit organization that provides free afterschool figure skating lessons to community youth, returned to Prospect Park after a several year absence with the first full winter season of ice skating at the LeFrak Center at Lakeside.

Brooklyn Ice was founded over ten years ago in Prospect Park by Violet Eagan, a longtime figure skating coach, with the mission of making figure skating an accessible sport for underserved youth. The program launched in 2004 with just 12 neighborhood youth, and has grown to support over 60 youth, providing not only skating instruction but also academic tutoring and special workshops on nutrition, college preparation and more.

“Encouraging personal growth through sport and community is our goal,” says Eagan. “It’s a great opportunity for the kids to meet new friends outside of their regular school day while improving skate skills and becoming better members of the community.”

Participants in the program are recruited from schools neighboring Prospect Park, and the program brings together a diverse group over the course of several years, enabling youth to form long-term friendships. “My favorite thing about Brooklyn Ice is that it gets you moving,” said Lucero, a fifth grader at PS 10. “Your not just sitting in the house, you are having fun working with people.”

The program will run through March 23, when students will present their skills to the public at the Brooklyn Ice Annual Skating Show at 6 pm at the LeFrak Center. The ice show not only showcases the progress and efforts of the students participating in the program, but features guest performers including Jimmy Ma, a figure skating senior national competitor. Prospect Park Alliance members receive a $5 discount on advance ticket purchases using the code PPA15.