Blog

Gov­er­nors Island To Stay Open Through Octo­ber 31!

Jul 18, 2017 3:19 pm

Gov­er­nors Island to Remain Open in Octo­ber for the First Time, Expand­ing the Pub­lic Season

Island will now be open 6 months out of the year

“As we work to increase liv­abil­i­ty, afford­abil­i­ty, safe­ty and equi­ty in this great City, I am incred­i­bly proud that begin­ning this fall – and for the first time – Gov­er­nors Island will be open to the pub­lic from May through Octo­ber,” said May­or Bill de Bla­sio. ​“This is a true mile­stone, and one that exem­pli­fies how New York City is invest­ing in our amaz­ing parks to ensure it’s a city every­one can enjoy.”

Ear­li­er this year, the Trust announced that the Island would open one month ear­li­er on May 1. With today’s Octo­ber announce­ment, Gov­er­nors Island will now be open for six months out of the year, adding two months to its pub­lic sea­son since 2016. Vis­i­tors will have an addi­tion­al month in the fall to stroll through the Island’s sprawl­ing open spaces, enjoy­ing the chang­ing col­ors of near­ly 6,000 native trees and spec­tac­u­lar views of the New York City sky­line, Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty and New York Har­bor from the Hills, bathed in autumn light. 

“Autumn is the most visu­al­ly strik­ing time to vis­it Gov­er­nors Island, with vibrant foliage in our park and his­toric scenery unlike any­where else in New York City,” said Michael Samuelian, pres­i­dent of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“With the inclu­sion of Octo­ber, vis­i­tors are now able to take advan­tage of one of the region’s most unique pub­lic spaces dur­ing the spring, sum­mer and fall. Extend­ing the sea­son into Octo­ber is an impor­tant step in our efforts to acti­vate the Island year-round”.

In addi­tion to enjoy­ing the Island’s park spaces, vis­i­tors will enjoy a ros­ter of fall-themed activ­i­ties for all ages, includ­ing trick or treat­ing and oth­er arts and cul­tur­al pro­grams. In cel­e­bra­tion of Hal­loween, the Trust is bring­ing a ​‘Night of 1,000 Jack O’ Lanterns’, a tick­et­ed evening event that will fea­ture more than 1,000 hand-carved pump­kins by artists from the Tri-State area. The LED lit pump­kins will be staged along a fes­tive, paved, tree-lined path­way among the back­drop the Island’s His­toric Dis­trict. For spe­cif­ic dates, times and tick­et infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.therise​.org/1000. The Trust will announce addi­tion­al free pub­lic pro­gram­ming for Octo­ber in the com­ing weeks.

Dur­ing the remain­der of the sea­son, school groups, as well as youth and adult leagues in New York City are invit­ed to uti­lize Gov­er­nors Island’s sports fields, fea­tur­ing two nat­ur­al turf ball fields sized for youth base­ball, adult soft­ball and soc­cer. The sports fields are avail­able for use by per­mit, free of charge for pub­lic schools and youth groups, and at $250 per hour for adult leagues and pri­vate schools. Per­mits are avail­able at www​.gov​is​land​.com. As part of a project to restore the Parade Ground, a nine-acre green space behind his­toric Fort Jay, the Trust will offer space for full-size, reg­u­la­tion foot­ball fields, soc­cer fields and lacrosse fields for the first time begin­ning this Fall. The process to reserve the Parade Ground will be announced in the com­ing weeks.

“Open­ing Gov­er­nors Island to the pub­lic in Octo­ber enables vis­i­tors to expe­ri­ence a whole new side of this mag­i­cal place,” said Mer­ritt Birn­baum, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Through our fundrais­ing efforts, vol­un­teer pro­grams and vis­i­tor ser­vices, the Friends is excit­ed to play a role in help­ing make Gov­er­nors Island New York City’s new favorite des­ti­na­tion for out­door fall activities.” 

Dur­ing the pub­lic sea­son, the Island hosts a wide range of arts, cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al and recre­ation­al pro­grams through Open­House­GI. www​.gov​is​land​.com.

The Island typ­i­cal­ly wel­comes 10,000 vis­i­tors each week­end day and last year wel­comed near­ly 600,000 vis­i­tors over the course of the sea­son. More than 75% of vis­i­tors to the Island are from New York City and over 90% are from the Tri-State area. Since open­ing on May 1 this sea­son, the Island has wel­comed near­ly 350,000 visitors.

In 2017, Gov­er­nors Island will be open every day from May 1 through Octo­ber 31. The Island is open from 10 AM to 6 PM on week­days and from 10 AM to 7 PM on week­ends, Memo­r­i­al Day, July 4 and Labor Day. In Octo­ber, fer­ries will run from Low­er Man­hat­tan dai­ly and from Brook­lyn Bridge Park Pier 6 on week­ends and hol­i­day Mon­days. NYC Fer­ry will con­tin­ue to stop at Gov­er­nors Island’s Pier 101 on week­ends in Octo­ber via the East Riv­er and South Brook­lyn routes.