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Hills, Grills and Thrills Await Vis­i­tors This Sea­son on Gov­er­nors Island!

Apr 22, 2016 3:55 pm

Today, we announced events and pro­grams for the 2016 pub­lic sea­son. The Island opens to the pub­lic on Memo­r­i­al Day Week­end (May 28^th). In addi­tion to the amaz­ing array of arts, cul­tur­al and recre­ation­al pro­grams that have made Gov­er­nors Island a must-vis­it sea­son­al des­ti­na­tion, we’re offer­ing some excit­ing new fea­tures! The 2016 sea­son will include a record num­ber of pro­grams, exhibits and events. 

First, all vis­i­tors are invit­ed to look south where the Hills are under con­struc­tion. As pre­vi­ous­ly announced, the Hills, ris­ing 25 to 70 feet above the Island, will open dur­ing the 2016 sea­son, eight months ahead of sched­ule. The open­ing date and events for The Hills will be announced shortly. 

On Memo­r­i­al Day Week­end, free hard­hat tours will be offered all three days so New York­ers can pre­view the Hills, includ­ing a walk up to the top of Out­look Hill. Free tours will be sched­uled all sea­son until the Hills are com­plete and open for gen­er­al use. Images of the Hills can be found here. 

This sea­son, for the first time, you will be able to GRILL out here! In response to over­whelm­ing demand, we have are six new grills on the Island that can be reserved in advance Expand­ing on the Island’s pop­u­lar Pic­nic Gath­er­ing pro­gram, start­ed in 2015, vis­i­tors can reserve pic­nic tables or tables with grills on the Island’s web­site. The reser­va­tion even includes a Radio Fly­er wag­on to trans­port what­ev­er groups need for their BBQ or gathering! 

Favorite week­end fes­ti­vals return­ing include the Open­ing Week­end Fam­i­ly Fes­ti­val, City of Water Day, the Jazz Age Lawn Par­ty and FIG­MENT. The Island will also be the venue for the Nation­al Drone Rac­ing Cham­pi­onships in ear­ly August. 

Art projects include Race and Rev­o­lu­tion, the Exquis­ite Corpse Company’s Inside Magritte and the Gov­er­nors Island Art Fair. Per­for­mances include Wel­come Home, a site spe­cif­ic dance piece in Nolan Park by a for­mer Gov­er­nors Island res­i­dent who did a res­i­den­cy in the LMCC Arts Cen­ter and A Body in Places by Eiko Otate that will be per­formed as a part of the Riv­er to Riv­er Festival. 

Con­tin­u­ing the Island’s tra­di­tion as New York City’s shared space for art and play, FIG­MENT is pre­sent­ing an entire­ly new tree­house, and a new mini golf course. Climb­ing struc­tures in Ham­mock Grove and the hedge maze in Liggett Ter­race await chil­dren (and adults) of all ages.