Blog

Cel­e­brate sum­mer­time this Labor Day week­end on GI

Aug 28, 2019 10:57 am

Sum­mer may be wind­ing down, but there’s no short­age of things to do, see, taste and expe­ri­ence on Gov­er­nors Island as the sea­son comes to a close. This Labor Day week­end is packed with all sorts of spe­cial events, brand new free pro­grams and sum­mer­time vibes all week­end long. And don’t miss your chance to stay out late with us — we’re open until 10 PM on Fri­day and Sat­ur­day for the last two late nights of the sea­son. Read on to see every­thing hap­pen­ing on our shore this weekend. 

We’re mak­ing it a breeze to ship out this week­end, with Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn fer­ries run­ning on a week­end sched­ule on Labor Day, giv­ing you plen­ty of chances to take a quick ride across the har­bor to GI. Don’t for­get that fer­ries are free before noon on week­ends! NYC Fer­ry will also run their Gov­er­nors Island route from Wall St./Pier 11 all week­end, includ­ing Monday.

Japan Per­form­ing Arts, Inc. kicks things off on Fri­day evening with the first per­for­mance of their Bön Odori Fes­ti­val that brings tra­di­tion­al Japan­ese sum­mer dances to GI. See dances on Out­look Hill 7:30 – 9 PM on Fri­day and Sat­ur­day, plus a whole day of Japan­ese games, food, activ­i­ties and more in Nolan Park, 12 – 8 PM on Saturday. 

The 10^th annu­al NYC Uni­cy­cle Fes­ti­val keeps things rolling on Sat­ur­day and Sun­day 12 – 5 PM with games, work­shops and com­pe­ti­tions cel­e­brat­ing all things uni­cy­cle. Vet­er­an rid­ers can show off their tal­ents and test their skills, while new­com­ers can learn how to ride and take in spec­tac­u­lar performances! 

New arts and cul­ture pro­grams on Colonels Row open their doors this week­end. 4heads’ sprawl­ing annu­al art show, Por­tal, dis­plays a stag­ger­ing line­up of new works across sev­en his­toric hous­es every week­end in Sep­tem­ber. They’ll mark their first day on Sat­ur­day with a pub­lic open­ing recep­tion, 6 – 9 PM. 

Free arts and per­for­mance pro­grams will open in Colonels Row start­ing on Sat­ur­day, includ­ing the diverse the­atri­cal per­for­mances of Dys­func­tion­al Col­lec­tive, a soft open­ing of Exquis­ite Corpse Com­pa­ny 5 – 9 PM on Sat­ur­day night, holo­graph­ic art all week­end at the Holo­Cen­ter, and Linked Dance The­atre bring­ing you a week­end of dance and art exhi­bi­tions with an open­ing recep­tion on Sun­day, 3:30 – 6 PM. 

More art, cul­ture and learn­ing can be found in Nolan Park dur­ing the hous­es’ nor­mal week­end hours on Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, 11 AM‑5 PM. Our fan­tas­tic food and bev­er­age ven­dors will also be open for their usu­al week­end hours. 

Read on for a list of all pro­grams, attrac­tions and ven­dors that will be open on Labor Day (Mon­day, Sep­tem­ber 2). See you on the Island! 

Open on Labor Day:

Nolan Park
Tri­an­gle Arts
Har­vest­works
West Harlem Art Fund
Children’s Muse­um of the Arts Free Arts Island Out­post
NYC Audubon
play:groundNYC’s The Yard

Colonels Row
The Holo­Cen­ter
Linked Dance The­ater
Dys­func­tion­al Collective

Urban Farm
GrowNYC

Ven­dors
Island Oys­ter
Taco Vista
Mak­i­na Café
Lit­tle Eva’s
Joe Cof­fee
Per­ros Y Vainas 

Attrac­tions
Blaz­ing Sad­dles
Gov­er­nors Island Nation­al Mon­u­ment (Fort Jay and Cas­tle Williams)