Blog

Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Announces Return of Sum­mer Season

May 5, 2023 11:18 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced a robust cal­en­dar of excit­ing and wide-rang­ing pro­grams on the Island for this sum­mer that promise to offer excit­ing expe­ri­ences for New York­ers of all ages and vis­i­tors from around the world. This year’s pro­gram­ming high­lights the breadth of activ­i­ties, events, and cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences that can be enjoyed dur­ing the warmer months on Gov­er­nors Island, includ­ing live music, food trucks, and pub­lic art installations.

“Gov­er­nors Island has estab­lished itself as a cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and recre­ation­al stand­out,” said Deputy May­or for Eco­nom­ic and Work­force Devel­op­ment Maria Tor­res-Springer. ​“Thanks to the inge­nu­ity and diver­si­ty of this sum­mer’s pro­gram­ming — cou­pled with the increased fer­ry rides and access — we are espe­cial­ly excit­ed to wel­come New York­ers across the five bor­oughs to this amaz­ing resource in New York Harbor.” 

“Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ues to grow as an acces­si­ble, year-round des­ti­na­tion — offer­ing unpar­al­leled open space, thought-pro­vok­ing arts and cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences, some of our city’s best culi­nary offer­ings, a diverse com­mu­ni­ty of ten­ants and ameni­ties, and more for our near­ly one mil­lion vis­i­tors,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“With this summer’s expand­ed pub­lic access, increased acces­si­ble trans­porta­tion, and excit­ing cal­en­dar of events, we hope more New York­ers than ever before hop on the fer­ry and join us for some excel­lent sum­mer fun.” 

High­light­ed sum­mer pro­grams, activ­i­ties, and vis­i­tor ameni­ties announced today include:

VIS­I­TOR AMENI­TIES AND ATTRACTIONS

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island will offer expand­ed oper­a­tions of the Island’s wheel­chair-acces­si­ble tram ser­vice, free and avail­able to all guests. These all-elec­tric acces­si­bil­i­ty vehi­cles will depart from Sois­sons Land­ing and Yan­kee Pier dai­ly from Memo­r­i­al Day through the end of Octo­ber, stop­ping at key loca­tions through­out the Island. 

The Urban Farm — home to GrowNYC’s teach­ing gar­den, Earth Mat­ter NY’s Com­post Learn­ing Cen­ter and Soil Start Farm, and the Bee Conservancy’s bee sanc­tu­ary — is open week­ends from 12 – 4pm with free tours the first Sat­ur­day of every month. Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my Manufacturing’s Micro­Fac­to­ry, which turns post-con­sumer plas­tics into upcy­cled objects using only solar pow­er, is also open week­ends with free demon­stra­tions for vis­i­tors. play:groundNYC’s Adven­ture Play­ground, a unique kids-only space imag­i­na­tion and explo­ration, is open every week­end from 12 – 4pm. Gov­er­nors Island Nation­al Mon­u­ment, includ­ing Fort Jay and Cas­tle Williams, is open for self-guid­ed tours and infor­ma­tion on week­ends from 12 – 4pm start­ing Memo­r­i­al Day weekend. 

Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Council’s Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island is open Fri­day-Sat­ur­day from 12 – 6pm through Octo­ber 1, with artist res­i­den­cies, pub­lic pro­grams, and three works cen­tered on the theme ​“time,” includ­ing an exhi­bi­tion by instal­la­tion artist Daniel Shieh, a film and video exhi­bi­tion curat­ed by Allies in Arts, and a new instal­la­tion by Rhon­da Wep­pler and Trevor Mahovsky. The Arts Cen­ter is free and open to all, with no pri­or reser­va­tions required. Col­lec­tive Retreats is open dai­ly for overnight stays, and QC NY is open dai­ly with two heat­ed out­door pools along­side saunas, steam rooms, relax­ation treat­ments, mas­sages, and a new bar and bistro. The Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture and Shan­dak­en: Projects — year round Island ten­ants locat­ed in Nolan Park Build­ing 9 — will offer free events and exhi­bi­tions through­out the sum­mer months. 

OPEN SPACE AND RECREATION

Vis­i­tors can enjoy Gov­er­nors Island’s 120+ acres of open space dai­ly. The Island’s award-win­ning, cli­mate resilient park offers rolling lawns and plen­ty of room for New York­ers to spread out for pic­nick­ing and recre­ation, includ­ing over sev­en miles of car-free bike paths. Ham­mock Grove’s 40+ pub­lic ham­mocks and path­ways nes­tled into the foliage of this young urban for­est pro­vide a relax­ing retreat. The Hills fea­ture unpar­al­leled views of the har­bor and land­marks, like the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty and the sur­round­ing Low­er Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn skylines. 

Pop­u­lar year-round activ­i­ties — like bike rentals with Blaz­ing Sad­dles, includ­ing Free Bike Morn­ings every week­day between 10am-12pm and CitiBike; self-guid­ed dig­i­tal walk­ing tours with Urban Archive, Ges­so, and the Black Gotham Expe­ri­ence; and more — will con­tin­ue to be offered to Island vis­i­tors. Addi­tion­al­ly, climbers of all ages and skill lev­els can enjoy breath­tak­ing views from new heights at our Com­mu­ni­ty Climb­ing boul­der on the West­ern Prom­e­nade. More infor­ma­tion and updates on recre­ation activ­i­ties can be found on the Gov­er­nors Island website.

EVENTS

Gov­er­nors Island remains one of New York City’s most unique loca­tions for events of all kinds. See below for a selec­tion of upcom­ing events, with more to be announced through­out the sea­son. See a pre­view of event details below:

• NYCRUNS Sum­mer Lovin’ 5K & 10K – May 13
• Mov­ing Chains: Towards Abo­li­tion, a free day-long pro­gram build­ing upon Mov­ing Chains on Gov­er­nors Island pre­sent­ed by Cre­ative Time and Gov­er­nors Island Arts – May 20
• World Bee Day cel­e­bra­tion pre­sent­ed by The Bee Con­ser­van­cy – May 20
• Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture sym­po­sium: BQE 2053, Towards a Decar­bonized Sus­tain­able Mul­ti-Modal Trans­porta­tion Net­work – May 20
• New York Har­bor Oys­ter Clas­sic 5K, sup­port­ing the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School on Gov­er­nors Island – June 4
• Jazz Age Lawn Par­ty – June 10 – 11, August 12 – 13
• Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Council’s city­wide Riv­er to Riv­er Fes­ti­val – June 16 – 18
• Rite of Sum­mer Music Fes­ti­val – June 16, July 22, August 25
• Porch Stomp folk music fes­ti­val – June 17
• FAD Mar­ket month­ly pop-ups – June 17 – 18, July 15 – 16, August 19 – 20, Sep­tem­ber 16 – 17, Octo­ber 21 – 22
• NYCRUNS Father’s Day 5K & 10K – June 19
• NYCRUNS Fire­crack­er 5K & 10K – July 4 
• Out­door Films pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts in part­ner­ship with Film at Lin­coln Cen­ter – June 9, July 7, August 11
• Crick­et Clas­sic – July 9
• NYC Poet­ry Fes­ti­val – July 29 – 30

FOOD VEN­DORS

Gov­er­nors Island is a true culi­nary des­ti­na­tion with a diverse mix of cuisines avail­able to vis­i­tors dai­ly. New ven­dors this year include Wheeler’s, Gov­er­nors Island’s first 100% solar pow­ered food ven­dor, locat­ed at and oper­at­ed by Pulse Grids in Colonels Row. 

Return­ing ven­dors includ­ing Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny, Lit­tle Eva’s, Taco Vista, Fauzia’s Heav­en­ly Delights, Island Oys­ter, Threes Brew­ing and the Meat Hook, Piz­za Yard, Sea Bis­cuit, Car­reau Club, Tokyo Drum­stick, La Newyork­i­na, the Real Moth­er Shuck­ers, and more. Pre­vi­ous Island ven­dor Mak­i­na Café is set to serve their Ethiopi­an and Eritre­an cui­sine out of a brand-new loca­tion in Colonels Row, and the Food­ie Spot — a part­ner­ship with the New York City Hous­ing Author­i­ty (NYCHA)’s Office of Res­i­dent Eco­nom­ic Empow­er­ment and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty — will return to Liggett Ter­race, spot­light­ing small busi­ness­es owned by grad­u­ates of NYCHA’s Food Busi­ness Path­ways pro­gram. Find a com­plete list of ven­dors and all oper­at­ing hours will be updat­ed reg­u­lar­ly at www.govisland.og/foods.

Open Dai­ly

• Gitano Island – Lunch week­days from 12 – 4pm, din­ner Mon­day-Wednes­day from 4 – 10pm and Thurs­day-Sun­day from 4 – 11pm, brunch week­ends from 11am-3pm, Sois­sons Landing
• Island Oys­ter – Dai­ly, 12 – 6pm, Sois­sons Landing
• Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny in the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing fer­ry ter­mi­nal – Dai­ly, 7am-4pm
• Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny at Liggett Ter­race – Week­ends May 6 – 28, 10am-5pm; Dai­ly May 29-Sep­tem­ber 4, 10am-7pm
• Lit­tle Eva’s – Dai­ly, 11am-5pm, Liggett Terrace
• Taco Vista – Dai­ly, 12 – 6pm, Sois­sons Landing
• Three Peaks Lodge at Col­lec­tive Retreats – Dai­ly for break­fast, lunch, Hap­py Hour, din­ner, and bar ser­vice, West­ern Promenade

Open Week­ends and Select Weekdays

• Car­reau Club – Fri­day-Sun­day, 11am-6pm, King Ave
• Fauzia’s Heav­en­ly Delights – Fri­day-Sun­day, 11am-6pm, Liggett Terrace
• The Food­ie Spot – Fri­day-Sun­day, 11am-5pm, Liggett Terrace
• La Newyork­i­na – Week­ends start­ing Memo­r­i­al Day Week­end, 12 – 5 pm, Colonels Row 
• Mak­i­na Café – Fri­day-Sun­day start­ing Memo­r­i­al Day Week­end, 11am-6pm, Colonels Row
• New York Food Truck Asso­ci­a­tion food trucks – Week­ends, 11am-5pm, Liggett Terrace
• Piz­za Yard – Fri­day-Sun­day, 12 – 5pm, Colonels Row
• The Real Moth­er Shuck­ers – Week­ends start­ing in July, mobile ven­dor trav­el­ing around the Island
• Sea Bis­cuit – Week­ends start­ing Memo­r­i­al Day Week­end, 10am-6pm, West­ern Promenade
• Threes Brew­ing & The Meat Hook – Week­ends, 12 – 6pm, Liggett Terrace
• Tokyo Drum­stick – Fri­day-Sun­day, 11am-4pm, Liggett Terrace
• Wheeler’s – Fri­day-Sun­day start­ing late May, 12 – 6pm, Colonels Row

GOV­ER­NORS ISLAND ARTS

Through pub­lic art com­mis­sions, the annu­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram, and pub­lic events and pro­grams, Gov­er­nors Island Arts — the arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust — cre­ates trans­for­ma­tive encoun­ters with art for all New York­ers, invit­ing artists and researchers to engage with the Island’s lay­ered his­to­ries, envi­ron­ments, and archi­tec­ture. Vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​g​iarts to view the program’s pre­vi­ous­ly announced sum­mer sea­son of free cul­tur­al offerings. 

VIS­I­TOR INFOR­MA­TION

Gov­er­nors Island will debut new pub­lic hours this sum­mer, expand­ing access to the Island for all New York­ers into the evening. From Memo­r­i­al Day through Labor Day, the Island will remain open until 10pm Sun­day-Thurs­day and 11pm Fri­day-Sat­ur­day (with the South Island Park clos­ing at 6pm). From Labor Day through Memo­r­i­al Day, the Island is open dai­ly from 7am to 6pm. 

Trust for Gov­er­nors Island-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries also serve two Brook­lyn loca­tions dur­ing the sum­mer months — Pier Six in Brook­lyn Bridge Park and Atlantic Basin in Red Hook. These routes run direct­ly to Yan­kee Pier on Gov­er­nors Island from each loca­tion every Sat­ur­day, Sun­day, and hol­i­day Mon­day from May 27 through Octo­ber 29. For sched­ules and tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion, vis­it the Gov­er­nors Island website.

Vis­i­tors are encour­aged to reserve fer­ry tick­ets in advance of their trip on the Gov­er­nors Island web­site. Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $4 for adults. Fer­ries oper­at­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, old­er adults 65 and up, res­i­dents of NYCHA, IDNYC hold­ers, cur­rent and for­mer mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Fer­ries before noon on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days are free for all. There is no sur­charge for bicy­cles or strollers on Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries at any time.

The Trust also offers free fer­ry fares for non­prof­it com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tions, youth camps, and senior cen­ters through­out New York City. To inquire about group vis­its, orga­ni­za­tions may email groupvisits@​govisland.​org.

NYC Fer­ry ser­vice to Gov­er­nors Island on the South Brook­lyn route oper­ates week­days and non-sum­mer week­ends. On sum­mer week­ends dur­ing the high­est rid­er­ship sea­son, NYC Fer­ry will con­tin­ue to oper­ate its ded­i­cat­ed sea­son­al shut­tle from Pier 11/​Wall Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan. NYC Fer­ry rid­ers may take any route to Pier 11 and trans­fer to the shut­tle for free, or NYC Fer­ry rid­ers may trans­fer for free at either Atlantic Ave/​Pier 6 or Red Hook/​Atlantic Basin to Trust-oper­at­ed Brook­lyn fer­ries. For tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion and full sched­ules for NYC Fer­ry, vis­it the NYC Fer­ry web­site, www.ferry.nyc.

“Sum­mer is near­ly here and on top of some great weath­er, New York­ers also have an incred­i­ble slate of free events and pro­gram­ming dur­ing Gov­er­nors Island Sum­mer Sea­son to look for­ward to. I’m excit­ed to see my neigh­bors out and about and enjoy­ing all that Gov­er­nors Island has to offer,” said Con­gress­man Daniel S. Gold­man (NY-10).

“With its offer­ings from its bee sanc­tu­ary to its urban for­est and its pub­lic art to its incred­i­ble food options, what Gov­er­nors Island offers New York­ers is unpar­al­leled. I con­grat­u­late all who worked hard to pre­pare the Island for its expand­ed pub­lic access this sum­mer, and I look for­ward to tak­ing the fer­ry from Brook­lyn and mak­ing the most of all its incred­i­ble resources with my own fam­i­ly in the com­ing months,” said New York State Sen­a­tor Andrew Gounardes

“This sum­mer, our Red Hook fam­i­lies will have access to free fer­ry ser­vice in order to enjoy a wide array of fam­i­ly activ­i­ties on Gov­er­nors Island,” said New York City Coun­cil Mem­ber Alexa Avilés. ​“With the clo­sure of our neigh­bor­hood library, chil­dren will need more oppor­tu­ni­ties, like the ones offered through this pro­gram, in order to con­tin­ue to explore the world around them through­out the sum­mer months. I am delight­ed that the work of our neigh­bors and CBO part­ners will be high­light­ed through part­ner­ships with the NYCHA Food Busi­ness Path­way Pro­gram as well as GrowNYC. I look for­ward to see­ing my neigh­bors at Gov­er­nors Island this summer.”

“Gov­er­nors Island is the per­fect warm-weath­er escape for New York­ers and tourists – there’s more than 120 acres of open space, recre­ation­al activ­i­ties, arts and cul­ture, fam­i­ly pro­gram­ming, and local his­to­ry,” said Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Mark Levine. ​“I encour­age every­one to take advan­tage of this unique escape and bask in all that Gov­er­nors Island has to offer.”

“All of us at the Friends of Gov­er­nors are thrilled to wel­come vis­i­tors from across the five bor­oughs and around the world to this mag­i­cal des­ti­na­tion in the heart of New York Har­bor,” said Pat­ti Davis, Inter­im Exec­u­tive Direc­tor at the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Tru­ly there is some­thing here for every­one – 120 acres of lush open space, dozens of his­toric build­ings, a vast array of free pub­lic pro­grams, inno­v­a­tive arts and cul­ture, miles of car-free bike paths, and a vari­ety of din­ing options — all with breath­tak­ing water­front views of New York Har­bor and the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty. Bring your friends and fam­i­ly and plan to stay all day!” 

“I’m pleased to wel­come vis­i­tors back to Gov­er­nors Island Nation­al Mon­u­ment start­ing Memo­r­i­al Day Week­end,” said Shirley McK­in­ney, Man­hat­tan sites super­in­ten­dent, Nation­al Park Ser­vice. ​“This year, we will con­tin­ue to offer self-guid­ed pub­lic tours of the his­toric forts, with our park rangers on site to answer ques­tions and pro­vide infor­ma­tion on the Island’s unique his­to­ry to our visitors.”

Gov­er­nors Island has under­gone a tremen­dous trans­for­ma­tion over the last decade, includ­ing the cre­ation of a resilient 43-acre park, a grow­ing arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram, year-round pub­lic access, and remark­able growth in audi­ence. The Island is home to a diverse num­ber of year-round ten­ants, includ­ing the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, the Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, Shan­dak­en Projects, Beam Cen­ter, the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture, and QC NY Spa, as well as the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs — a new mul­ti-ten­ant hub for coastal cli­mate solu­tions sched­uled to open in 2024. 

In April, New York City May­or Eric Adams, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, and State Uni­ver­si­ty of New York (SUNY) Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty unveiled the ​“New York Cli­mate Exchange,” a trans­for­ma­tive vision for a first-in-the-nation cli­mate research, edu­ca­tion, and jobs hub on Gov­er­nors Island that will cre­ate thou­sands of per­ma­nent jobs and $1 bil­lion in eco­nom­ic impact for the city. A cross-sec­tor con­sor­tium led by Stony Brook, the Exchange will cre­ate a state-of-the-art, $700-mil­lion, a 400,000-square-foot cam­pus ded­i­cat­ed to research­ing and devel­op­ing inno­v­a­tive cli­mate solu­tions that will be scaled across New York City and the world and will equip New York­ers to hold the green jobs of the future.

The cul­mi­na­tion of a two-year, com­pet­i­tive request for pro­pos­al process, the selec­tion of the New York Cli­mate Exchange rep­re­sents a major mile­stone in the city’s ground­break­ing Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions ini­tia­tive — a key piece of May­or Adams’ ​“Rebuild, Renew, Rein­vent A Blue­print for New York City’s Eco­nom­ic Recov­ery” — which will cre­ate 7,000 per­ma­nent jobs and a bil­lion dol­lars in eco­nom­ic impact, while expand­ing and enhanc­ing pub­lic access to Gov­er­nors Island. The Exchange alone will cre­ate over 2,200 100-per­cent union jobs, includ­ing for con­struc­tion and build­ing ser­vices, with a com­mit­ment to hir­ing all con­struc­tion and build­ing ser­vice work­ers at pre­vail­ing wage and a goal of 35 per­cent minor­i­ty- and women-owned busi­ness enter­prise (M/WBE) par­tic­i­pa­tion in construction.