Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival Coming June 2

Now that the summer is basically here--okay, late spring--the outdoor events are stacking up. One of our favorites is the annual Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival. The 2007 edition will take place on Saturday, June 2 and there will be some changes. Instead of happening at the end of Beard Street it will move to the wonderful Louis J Valentino Jr. Park & Pier. In the words of the email we received "the cool sea breezes, grassy lawns and breathtaking views of the harbor make it an ideal setting." If you haven't been, the park is located at Coffey and Ferris Streets in Red Hook. The festival will run from 10AM-7PM and there are free activities for children and teens all day long. There will be a "Tolerance Tent" where films from the 3rd annual Youth Film Festival will be shown, among other things. There will be a Youth Dance for Tolerance with dance students from South America joining local youth groups on stage. The sponsors write:

Young dancers from Brazil’s renowned Edisca School, from the streets of Cali, Colombia and the local Brooklyn International High School will perform a “dance for tolerance” that they choreograph together prior to the festival. Local youth groups Pee Wee Hoofers, PureElements: An Evolution in Dance, Jow-ile-Bailar Dance Company, Solomon Goodwin Dancers, Final Destination, PS 27, PS 15 and other youth groups will also strut their stuff on stage.

There will also be live dance, music and spoken word performances by Baba Israel & Yako, Earthdriver, and Frankie Martinez’s ABAKUÁ Afro-Latin Dance Company.

There will be free canoe and kayak rides for children from the Red Hook Boaters and Urban Divers. There will be roving circus performers, hula hoop teachers and face painters throughout the day. The Brooklyn Children’s Museum will bring animals for children to pet. A children’s coloring contest will be held during the day. PortSide New York will hold knot-tying workshops for kids and set up a small pool where kids can power motor toy boats. There will also be maritime exhibits and activities at the nearby Waterfront Museum Showboat Barge, and the Brooklyn Public Library's Kidsmobile will be parked at the festival all day. The event will be closed out with a dance party with DJ Bobbito Garcia (AKA kool bob love). If you don't feel like taking the bus, New York Water Taxi will be ferrying passengers between Manhattan & Queens and Red Hook every hour.

Last year's festival was rained on quite a bit, so this year, there's a rain date, which is June 3.