Things to Do in Prospect Park

We thought this would be a good time to report a few events and volunteer opportunities in Prospect Park culled from the emails from the Prospect Park Alliance that periodically arrive in our inbox. The first event, International Coastal Clean-Up Day, is happening on Saturday, September 16 from 10AM-2PM. The Prospect Park Alliance is looking for volunteers to help clean the shoreline of the lake in Prospect Park, which is Brooklyn's only freshwater lake and is actually an important wildlife habitat (and a cool place to chill). Volunteers are meeting at the Rustic Shelter by the Lake, easily reached by entering the park at Ocean & Parkside Avenues. Call the Park’s Volunteer Office at (718) 965-8960 for more information.

The other interesting event is billed as "A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City," which is sponsored by Doctors Without Borders and starts on Wednesday, September 20 and runs through Sunday, September 24 from 9:30AM to 6:30PM every day. "Visitors to this outdoor educational exhibit are asked to imagine that they are among the millions of people fleeing violence and persecution around the world," an Alliance press release says. (Globally, 33 million people are either refugees or displaced within their own countries.) The exhibit is made up of materials used by Doctors Without Borders in its emergency medical work around the world, including emergency refugee housing, a food distribution tent, water pump, health clinic, vaccination tent, therapeutic feeding center, and a cholera treatment center. It's free and locatedon the Long Meadow, which can be reached by entering the park from Grand Army Plaza or from Garfield Place and Prospect Park West. The "refugee camp" is in Central Park September 15-17. More information at Doctors Without Borders.

Looking ahead to October, the annual Halloween Haunted Walk and Carnival happens on October 28.