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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

This Week­end on Gov­er­nors Island: City of Water Day, Swim Around Gov­er­nors Island, and More!

Jul 17, 2013 6:19 pm
[cap­tion id=“attachment_7040” align=“aligncenter” width=“355”]Courtesy Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance Cour­tesy Met­ro­pol­i­tan Water­front Alliance[/caption] This Sat­ur­day (July 20th) we are thrilled to host events for City of Water Day—a free, day-long cel­e­bra­tion of the world-class poten­tial of the water sur­round­ing the NY-NJ met­ro­pol­i­tan region. There will be many ways for vis­i­tors to expe­ri­ence the water right here on Gov­er­nors Island! From 10am to 4pm in Colonel’s Row there will be water-cen­tric fun for all ages, includ­ing the Children’s Activ­i­ties Fes­ti­val, live music, and Water­front Activ­i­ty Fair. On the North Craig Prom­e­nade, vis­i­tors will be able to fish using poles, tack­le and bait pro­vid­ed by I FISH NY. For those inter­est­ed in tak­ing to the water, there will be free kayak­ing from Pier 101. Vis­i­tors can also cheer on teams com­pet­ing in the epic Card­board Kayak Race. His­toric and mod­ern ves­sels of all shapes and sizes will be arriv­ing to Yan­kee Pier on the Island for free tours. There will be a vari­ety of free boat tours from Gov­er­nors Island. Select tours are offered in Man­darin and Span­ish, as well as in Eng­lish. To view all tour oppor­tu­ni­ties and reserve your spot, vis­it the City of Water web­site. The fun in the water con­tin­ues on Sun­day with the Gov­er­nors Island Swim. At 2:45pm, vis­i­tors will be able to cheer swim­mers in this chal­leng­ing, open-water swim around the Island! There is still time to reg­is­ter as a swim­mer or vol­un­teer and take-in views of Low­er Man­hat­tan, Jer­sey City, Stat­en Island, Brook­lyn, and, of course, the Island itself in this unique New York Har­bor expe­ri­ence!   Oth­er Events This Week­end Include: Fête Par­adiso, 10:30am to 6:30pm, Nolan Park For the first time in the US, a spec­tac­u­lar col­lec­tion of vin­tage French car­ni­val rides is open to the pub­lic here on Gov­er­nors Island! The Parisian expe­ri­ence is free to vis­i­tors both young and old at this mag­nifique fair­ground fes­ti­val com­plete with French music and cui­sine! 4 Cham­bers Per­for­mances, 11:30 AM, 1 PM, 2:30 PM, 4 PM, 5:30 PM, Nolan Park Build­ing 15 4Chambers is a sen­so­r­i­al jour­ney into the human heart. Jody Ober­felder Dance Projects trans­form Offi­cers’ House #15 in (Nolan Park) into an inti­mate per­for­mance space with cor­ri­dors that func­tion as arter­ies and veins lead­ing to four dis­crete cham­bers. Guid­ed by six cast mem­bers, an audi­ence of 12 moves through the space, mon­i­tor­ing their own hearts through­out. Reser­va­tions begin June 3rd, con­tact: Mercedes@​jodyoberfelder.​com for more infor­ma­tion. Resilien­cy Round­table at City of Water Day, Sat­ur­day 11am to 2pm, Build­ing 110 The NY/NJ Har­bor Coali­tion is host­ing a mini-con­fer­ence high­light­ing the Coali­tion’s advo­ca­cy cam­paign to secure fed­er­al fund­ing for har­bor restora­tion. It will pro­vide key gov­ern­ment and oth­er stake­hold­ers a plat­form to talk about the work they are doing to help restore our region and improve water­front resilien­cy. West 8’s Jamie Maslyn Lar­son, the lead land­scape archi­tect for the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island will be speak­ing at 1pm. Free Kayak­ing with Down­town Boat House, Sat­ur­day 10am to 3pm, Pier 101 Enjoy some fun time out on the water with this free activ­i­ty, fea­tur­ing beau­ti­ful views of New York Har­bor! Ris­ing Tide pre­sent­ed by the Sculp­tors Guild, 11am to 5pm, Nolan Park Almost six months after Hur­ri­cane Sandy, artists across the region are still putting the pieces of their lives back togeth­er, get­ting into their (in some cas­es, dev­as­tat­ed) stu­dios, and cre­at­ing new work. This show will acknowl­edge ris­ing tides of all stripes (polit­i­cal, social, psy­cho­log­i­cal) in the hope of draw­ing atten­tion to the new forms that result — to the bright and shiny trea­sures that have now washed ashore. Ter­reform ONE: Gov­er­nors Hook Urba­neer­ing Exhib­it, All Day, Build­ing 110 Check out LMC­C’s art cen­ter exhib­it por­tray­ing future inno­v­a­tive archi­tec­ture, urban design, and land­scapes. Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil Presents Build­ing 110: LMC­C’s Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island, 11am-5pm, Build­ing 110 LMCC and its artists-in-res­i­dence wel­come audi­ence to Build­ing 110’s Gallery and their stu­dios. Dis­cov­er new artists, engage in the artis­tic process and sim­ply enjoy the art in this stun­ning set­ting this sum­mer. LMCC is also the lead pre­sen­ter of the Riv­er to Riv­er Fes­ti­val, a four- week, mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary arts fes­ti­val through­out Low­er Man­hat­tan. For more infor­ma­tion vis­it www​.lmcc​.net and river​torivernyc​.com. Bet­ter Than Jam Hand­made Gifts Shop, 11am to 6pm, Nolan Park, Build­ing 16 The Brook­lyn bou­tique of all local­ly hand­made prod­ucts brings the cre­ations of New York City’s most tal­ent­ed artists and crafters to the beau­ti­ful and his­toric hous­es of Nolan Park. This week­end, the craft­ing gets cre­ative with card mak­ing and stamp­ing with S2 Sta­tionery on the Island! Get the full list of Gov­er­nors Island exhibits and pro­grams on our web­site. Look­ing for­ward to see­ing you on the Island!
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