The Go Green! Greenpoint Festival returns as the Go Green! Brooklyn Festival, signaling its growth in terms of exhibitors, supporters, and attendees, so set your calendars for June 4 in Mccarren Park from 1-5pm.
If you’re a longtime resident of North Brooklyn, you may be familiar with the Go Green! Greenpoint Festival held every year at Mccarren Park, where the community comes together to learn about local environmental issues and projects, listen to live music, and engage their kids in fun programs. This festival has become an annual staple of community life in the Greenpoint area.
This year, the festival returns as the Go Green! Brooklyn Festival, signaling its growth in terms of exhibitors, supporters, and attendees, so set your calendars for June 4 in Mccarren Park from 1-5pm.
From live music and interactive circus performances to sustainable fashion and the fan-favorite Green Swap — there is something for everyone at the Go Green! Brooklyn Festival. For instance:
- Good Clean Fun will lead a fitness-focused park cleanup featuring the New York Road Runners. Their goal will be to explore the park and find materials that will be incorporated into a live-action artistic creation! So you can clean up the park while getting your exercise and art fix, all in one activity.
- If you’re looking to learn how to enhance existing items you may have originally planned to toss, Brooklyn Creative Studio will create an Upcycling Station where you can repair or improve your clothing, or items you find at the Green Cycle Swap.
- You know there had to be a fashion element to the festival given we’re in close proximity to one of the most fashionable areas of NYC. Up-and-coming haute couture designer Sho Konishi will showcase his collection, which is made of sustainable fabrics from households goods like floor mats and plastics.
- Kids and parents can thank Toys ‘R Us for outfitting a Box City and interactive Discovery Area for children. The boxes are recyclable and give kids the opportunity to build a city in their own vision while learning the importance of reusable materials.
- Want to get inspired? Get your creative on with the Human Impact Institute as you explore climate change, water, and local action, while having way too much fun!
The festival welcomes people to represent the issues from a variety of perspectives. “The festival was a way to bring the community together from advocacy groups to schools to businesses,” Susan Anderson, chairperson of Town Square, the parent organization of the festival, said. “The festival was setup to be a fun, and informative day.”
One of the joys of the festival is discovering all of the creative ways that folks are incorporating an environmental ethos into their work. Take DJ Natalie of Baby DJ School for example:
“A big way that we Go Green at Baby DJ School is by teaching children using pre-used records. Thrift stores, record stores and stoop sales contain a treasure trove of musical gems that we can save from landfills simply by teaching a new generation to appreciate them. Further, giving babies musical objects that they can actually touch and manipulate with their hands develops their spacial reasoning and motor skills,” DJ Natalie said.
We won’t reveal her playlist. You’ll have to stop by the festival and enjoy the sounds she spins on that day.
While the festival is designed to be fun with several activities, let’s not forget that at the heart of it, education about the community and sustaining the beauty around us is crucial to the success of the event.
There will be several returning and new exhibitors there to interact with attendees, provide educational materials, and offer ways for you to get involved in the community. Here’s a list of some of the groups who will be there. Be sure to stop by and say hi:
- Audubon New York integrates science, conservation, policy, and education to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.
- National Wildlife Federation is a voice for wildlife, dedicated to protecting wildlife and habitat and inspiring the future generation of conservationists.
- Newtown Creek Alliance is a community-based organization dedicated to restoring, revealing and revitalizing Newtown Creek. The Newtown Creek Alliance represents the interests of community residents and local businesses who are dedicated to restoring community health, water quality, habitat, access, and vibrant water-dependent commerce along Newtown Creek.
- Neighbors Allied for Good Growth developed out of the neighborhood’s desire to recapture its waterfront, reduce local environmental hazards, and advocate for public policies promoting healthy mixed-use communities. They advocate with and for the people who live and work in the North Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg.
- Open Space Alliance was formed in 2003 to raise private funds to expand and improve open space in North Brooklyn. OSA is modeled after other successful conservancies, working with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, elected officials, and the community to maintain, activate, enhance, and expand local parks.
- Riverkeeper is a member-supported watchdog organization dedicated to defending the Hudson River and its tributaries and protecting the drinking water supply of nine million New York City and Hudson Valley residents.
With tons of activities and groups planning to be at the Go Green! Brooklyn Festival, it just shows how much it has blossomed from a community get-together to a vibrant festival driven by local schools, organizations, and advocacy groups. Despite its exponential growth, the mission of the festival remains the same: bringing together the Greenpoint community to learn about sustainability in a fun, inclusive, and informative way.
To learn more about the festival, or to exhibit, visit http://www.gogreenbk.nyc.