SPRING GUIDE: Get outside and enjoy street fairs, BBQ bashes and festivals
By Nicole Lyn Pesce
Enjoy the cherry blossoms at Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Sakura Matsuri festival. (Liz Ligon/Liz Ligon)
Join the fresh air fun.
The days are longer, the sun is stronger, and the city is luring winter-weary New Yorkers back outside with street fairs and BBQ bashes, expanded park hours and public art works. Here's what to do outdoors this spring.
ISLAND TIMES
Governors Island opens a month early this year, so guests can head for The Hills park and squeal down the slides starting May 1 — instead of waiting for Memorial Day weekend. This season also welcomes a new Island Oyster beer garden. Free weekday bike rentals return from 10 a.m. to noon, as well as hammocks and Adirondack chairs to soak up harbor views. And the Earth Matter urban farm is back with its adorable goats. The $2 round trip-ferries (kids under 12 ride free) leave from lower Manhattan and Brooklyn's Pier 6. Open May 1 - Oct. 1, weekdays 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., weekends 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. See govisland.com.
QUEENS OF THE CROP
Long Island City throws a blockbuster street fest featuring the neighborhood's best shops, restaurants and cultural standouts. The LIC Springs Community Festival on May 6 includes games and raffles, plus seedball-making with HarborLAB to beautify the shoreline, tumbling with LIC Kids Gymnastics, and boxing demos with Beyond Movement Fitness. Sink your teeth into eats from Bareburger LIC, Bella Via, Madera Cuban Grill and more. Noon-5 p.m. Free. Vernon Blvd., between 46th and 50th Aves. See longislandcityqueens.com.
LEAVES OF GLASS
Dale Chihuly's "Sapphire Star," one of the artist's glass sculptures that will be on display at The New York Botanical Garden from April 22 through Oct. 29. (New York Botanical Garden)
The New York Botanical Garden will bloom with new hand-blown glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly honoring the artist's recent 75th birthday. "Chihuly," running April 22 through Oct. 29, features 20 large-scale installations, plus the sculptor's drawings and early works, planted throughout the 250-acre gardens. Check the online calendar for kid-friendly fun, cocktail date nights and performances pegged to the display. And don't miss "The Orchid Show: Thailand" before its buds close up on April 9. Adults $20 - 25, kids $8 - 10; 2900 Southern Blvd., the Bronx. See nybg.org.
CHERRY JUBILEE
The Sakura Matsuri cherry blossom festival at Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a springtime must. The garden's Japanese cherry trees explode into a canopy of pink, red and white blooms throughout April, culminating in a weekend festival April 29th and 30th with more than 60 dance and musical performances, manga drawing and origami workshops, a tea ceremony for kids, plus lots of people dressed in anime cosplay taking selfies beneath the trees. $30 adults, $25 for seniors 65+ and students with ID, and free for kids under 12. 150 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn. See bbg.org.
JUST GRILLIN'
Nothing whets the appetite for summer like mouthwatering barbecue. First up is the NYC BBQ Cookoff at Historic Richmond Town in Staten Island, pitting pitmasters against each other April 8 from noon to 4 p.m. Eat or compete. Admission is $15 adults, $8 kids at the door, or cheaper online. (441 Clarke Ave., Staten Island. See historicrichmondtown.org.)
Or head to the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party in Madison Square Park on June 10 and 11, which draws chefs from Dallas to DUMBO dishing ribs, brisket and beer from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. It's free to feast your eyes, or buy dishes at each stall. The $125 Fast Pass for two covers $100 in food and drinks, plus express line access. See bigapplebbq.org.
Hula hooping and more will be offered during the annual Street Games fest in Thomas Jefferson Park. (/Malcolm Pinckney/NYC Parks)
PLAY IN THE STREET
Get the kids to put down Pokémon Go and pick up the games their parents and grandparents played — like stickball, hula hoops and Double Dutch — with the annual Street Games fest in East Harlem's Thomas Jefferson Park on April 29. NYC Parks and Disney present these old school playground hits, as well as street hockey, breakdancing, use of pogo sticks and yo-yos — and even a box car derby. Rain or shine. 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Free. 114th St. and 1st Ave. See nycgovparks.org.
ANYONE FOR TENNIS?
The city parks department has cut adult tennis permit fees in half from $200 to $100 this year, and is courting new players by finally opening tennis permit registration online; previously, first-timers could only pay in person. IDNYC card holders get an extra 10% discount. Or, tennis players can drop just $15 for single-play and reservation tickets at more than 550 courts across the boroughs. See nycgovparks.org/things-to-do/tennis.
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