! Alert

Due to a planned New York Harbor closure and planned street closures in Lower Manhattan, Governors Island will close at 3PM on Friday, July 4, 2025. More info.

Due to a planned New York Harbor closure and planned street closures in Lower Manhattan, Governors Island will close at 3PM on Friday, July 4, 2025. More info.

Blog

Meatopia Kicks Off Food Fes­ti­vals and Pro­grams on Gov­er­nors Island This Season

Jul 7, 2010 3:59 pm
[cap­tion id=“attachment_3530” align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“Meatopia will take place this Sun­day on Colonels Row on Gov­er­nors Island ”][/​caption] This Sun­day, Meatopia kicks off a sea­son of food fes­ti­vals and pro­grams on Gov­er­nors Island. This unique bar­beque fes­ti­val is the pin­na­cle cel­e­bra­tion of ​“July Good Beer Month.”  Meatopia is one of a few addi­tion­al food events that will come to the Island, includ­ing the Vendy Awards, which are com­ing in Sep­tem­ber. Meatopia fea­tures a select group of more than 30 top chefs and BBQ teams bar­be­cu­ing local and sus­tain­able meats. This year’s com­peti­tors include bar­beque cham­pi­ons such as I Que, as well as Sea­mus Mullen of Boque­ria, Michael White of Oste­ria Mori­ni, Con­viv­io and Marea, and Zak Pelac­cio and Rob­bie Richter of Fat­ty ​‘Cue. All par­tic­i­pat­ing chefs part­ner with local farm­ers who pro­vide local­ly raised and sus­tain­able meats that are fea­tured in the chef’s recipes. Meatopia is a free event that is open to the pub­lic. If vis­i­tors would like to sam­ple the bar­beque fare, tick­ets are required. Tick­ets can be pur­chased on Gov­er­nors Island dur­ing the event or in advance here. A por­tion of the pro­ceeds will ben­e­fit Just Food, a non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion that advo­cates for access to afford­able, nat­ur­al foods; and Slow Food NYC, anoth­er non­prof­it that sup­ports sus­tain­abil­i­ty in New York’s food systems. 
In Sep­tem­ber, the Sixth Annu­al Vendy Awards will come to the Island. New York­ers have until mid-July to nom­i­nate their favorite ven­dors. The final­ists will then come out to Gov­er­nors Island for a cook off to deter­mine New York City’s best street ven­dor. Tick­ets to the Vendys can be pur­chased ain advance and pro­ceeds from the event go to the Urban Jus­tice Center’s Street Ven­dor Project, a non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion that pro­vides legal sup­port and advo­ca­cy to NYC street ven­dors city­wide. The event will also fea­ture live music and per­for­mances. Gov­er­nors Island vis­i­tors with­out tick­ets will be able to sam­ple award-win­ning food from past Vendy win­ners who will be sta­tioned around the Island.
[cap­tion id=“attachment_3538” align=“aligncenter” width=“194” caption=“The Vendys are com­ing to Gov­er­nors Island lat­er this sea­son ”][/​caption]
These events and fes­ti­vals com­pli­ment addi­tion­al food offer­ings on Gov­er­nors Island, includ­ing Water Taxi Beach, the Back­stage Café and a vari­ety of oth­er ven­dors that are locat­ed around the Island. Water Taxi Beach has a full bar and drill for vis­i­tors, and the Back­stage Café is a new addi­tion to the Island’s ameni­ties this sea­son. The Blue Mar­ble ice cream trike is also on the Island every week­end in dif­fer­ent loca­tions and is one of the Island’s most pop­u­lar spots for ice cream. All food ven­dors and loca­tions are not­ed on maps through­out Gov­er­nors Island.
Sign up for Our Newsletter