Governors Island Celebrates First Cold-Weather Season with Winter Village
The historic Colonel’s Row on Governors Island will become the picturesque venue for outdoor, season fun throughout the winter.
Starting today (Friday, December 17), Governors Island will host a seasonal Winter Village, which will transform the historic Colonels Row into a pop-up destination for holiday amenities, including a 5,000-square foot skating rink, open fire pits, a dozen-plus lawn games, and Jack Frost-friendly refreshments.
The 5,000-square-foot rink will be open Fridays (noon to 5:00 pm), Saturdays, and Sundays (10:00 am to 5:00 pm) as well as on New York City public school holidays. Skating is free on Fridays, and priced at $11 on Saturdays and Sundays. (Skate rentals cost $8 at all times.) Extended hours are also available for youth, adult and nonprofit sports leagues. (Interested organizations should email: info@govisland.org)
Outdoor games (open seven days per week) include cornhole, can jam and giant Jenga. Winter arts and cultural programming will feature a sparkling display of holiday lights. Also on exhibit will be a vintage fire truck, available for free visitor photo ops. The Winter Village will offer bike and (in the event of snow) sled rentals.
Food offerings will be anchored by Little Eva’s, featuring cold-weather comfort foods, like bratwurst, vegan chili, and beer-battered fish and chips. These offerings will be supplemented by a rotating array of other Governors Island vendors, such as Joe Coffee, Makina Cafe, Empire BBQ, and Souvlaki Gr.
“Ice skating beneath the towering trees, grabbing a hot chocolate over a roaring fire, or simply admiring the holiday light display — what could be a more charming way to spend a winter afternoon?” asks Merritt Birnbaum, executive director of the Friends of Governors Island. “Governors Island is already New York City’s favorite destination for fun in the sun, and we look forward to welcoming visitors to experience a whole new season of activities in this special place.”
“We are so excited to welcome all New Yorkers to the first public winter season on Governors Island. From ice skating to hot chocolate by the fire, the Governors Island Winter Village will provide visitors of all ages with plenty of cold-weather fun and festivities while serving as an amazing kick-off to our inaugural winter season,” concurs Clare Newman, president of the Trust for Governors Island. “In addition to the City’s most dramatic skating backdrop, Village visitors will enjoy some of the amazing food trucks and exciting programming that makes the Island a great place to visit all year long.”
Matthew Fenton
Special Edition: A seasonal celebration
Eyes to the Sky
December 17 – 25, 2021
“Nesting Under the Milky Way” by Mihail Minkov, Detelina Village, near Varna, Bulgaria. July 2020 https://www.fineartshot.com/
Suspended in starlit cosmic darkness, a stork is poised at the edge of a round, earthy nest, its chicks nestled into the top of the mound. As the New Year nears, “Nesting Under the Milky Way” elicits thoughts of the folklore of storks delivering newborns to families and the symbolism of a stork bringing in the New Year in the form of a human baby. The astrophotographer’s image poignantly spotlights life on Earth in relationship to our home in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Most of December, you and I are suspended in starlit cosmic darkness from late afternoon into morning, with little more than 9 hours of daylight. In the coming few days, the moon lights the night. This afternoon, the 17th, the nearly full moon rises in the east-northeast at 3:23pm. The Sun sets into the southwest horizon at 4:30pm both today, the 17th, and tomorrow, the 18th.
Tomorrow afternoon, Saturday the 18th, and all night, the Sun’s light is reflected to Earth by the Full Long Night Moon. Moonrise is at 4:02pm in the east-northeast – allow a delay where buildings populate the skyline. Sunday morning, the 19th, upon awakening, enjoy the sight of the great orb of the Full Moon setting in the west-northwest. It will slip under the horizon at 7:48am. Moonrise is close to an hour later everyday and sunset a minute later.
Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, arrives on Tuesday the 21st. Yes, the Sun sets a minute later everyday but sunrise continues to be later each day into January. Sunrise on the 21st, 7:17am; sunset 4:32pm.
Into next week, as dusk gathers, the sky to the south-southwest lights up with a string of planets. Brilliant Venus, low to the southwest horizon, is visible by 5pm. and sets soon after 6pm. Bright Jupiter appears above and to the south shortly after Venus. Jupiter sets around 9pm. Between Jupiter and Venus, dimmer Saturn makes its mark as the sky darkens. The ringed planet sets around 7:30pm.
Downtown Alliance Calls on Residents to Turn Food Scraps Into Clean Energy
With the installation of ten compost bins throughout Lower Manhattan, the Downtown Alliance, in partnership with the City’s Department of Sanitation and Brookfield Properties, has made it easier for Downtown residents to live more responsibly. The ten bins accept all forms of organic waste, including all food scraps (even meat and dairy), food-soiled paper, and house plants.To read more…
Immobile Miss
Fearless Girl Statue Gets a Three-Year Reprieve
On Tuesday morning, Vittoria Fariello, an elected Democratic Party District Leader representing Lower Manhattan (and a candidate for the New York State Senate) organized a rally to support keeping the Fearless Girl statue—artist Kristen Visbal’s bronze likeness of a young female striking a jaunty, audacious pose—at its current location, near the intersections of Broad and Wall Streets.
“This beautiful statue symbolizes the resilience and perseverance of women across the world,” Ms. Fariello said. “It symbolizes women’s empowerment, gender diversity, and equal opportunity for all. And it belongs here, in New York City.” To read more…
Price of Progress
Battery Conservancy Chief Floats Plan for Pier A
Warrie Price, the president and founder of the Battery Conservancy (the nonprofit that designs, builds, and maintains, the 25 acres of historic public parkland at the southern tip of Manhattan) is proposing to adapt the abandoned restaurant space within Pier A as an embarkation point for ferry passengers bound for Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
At a meeting of the Waterfront, Parks, and Cultural Committee of Community Board 1 (CB1) earlier this year, Ms. Price recalled that, “at one point, a visitor center was going to be housed at Pier A, when the Fire Department left and it was at Parks.”
In-person event. Experience the Chinese literati salon inspired by ancient tradition, with an evening of classical music, poetry, calligraphy—and wine! As the holiday season approaches, it’s time to celebrate the joy of reunion in China Institute’s newly expanded space! Artists, musicians, and literature experts will perform and invite attendees to participate in an evening promoting solidarity, friendship, and culture. $10.
CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS
Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found
We can help you easily declutter and organize your overstuffed closets, jammed bookcases, bursting cabinets and drawers, and enormous stacks of paper to put your home in “company is coming” condition.
Providing Companion and Home Health Aide Care to clients with dementia.Help with grooming, dressing and wheelchair assistance. Able to escort client to parks and engage in conversations of desired topics and interests of client. Reliable & Honest
78 year old refined intellectual gentleman having a passion for cruises and travel seeking a male or female caregiver/companion in exchange for all expense paid venture on the ocean. Only requirement is relationship comfort between us and ability to help with physical care regarding the limitations and restrictions of COPD.
Nadler Pushes for Federal Grant to Subsidize September 11 Museum
Congressman Jerry Nadler is pushing for a one-time cash infusion from the federal government to benefit the cash-strapped National September 11 Memorial & Museum, located within the World Trade Center complex.
During December 7 testimony before the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives, Mr. Nadler voiced his support for the proposed September 11 Memorial and Museum Act (of which he is a co-sponsor), noting that, “since its dedication in 2011, the September 11 Memorial has welcomed more than 51 million visitors, including September 11th victim family members, first responders, veterans, and the public from all 50 states and 190 countries.” To read more…
Pentacle on the Plaza
Abstract Actinoid Enlivens Plaza in World Trade Center Complex
Lower Manhattan has a new piece of grand public art. In November, Silverstein Properties (the operator of the World Trade Center complex) installed “Jasper’s Split Star,” an abstract piece by legendary artist and sculptor Frank Stella on the plaza in front of Seven World Trade Center (located between West Broadway and Greenwich Street, south of Vesey Street).
The metal-clad starburst sculpture is a reprise, of sorts, to Mr. Stella’s 1962 painting, “Jasper’s Dilemma,” which was meant as a tribute to his friend and fellow artist Jasper Johns. Six of the structure’s sides are solid aluminum, and six remain open to reveal shades of blue, purple, and gray. The star motif refers to Mr. Johns’s paintings of flags, and “Jasper’s Dilemma” contained a spectrum of closely related colors.
Lenders Who Fronted Millions to Operators of Pier A Allege Fraud
Investors who lent more than $16 million to the operators behind the shuttered restaurant at Pier A, on Battery Park City’s southern border allege that the borrowers, “used a fraudulent scheme to squeeze out of the Project all the fees and distributions for themselves that they could before shutting the doors.”
In a development first reported by property industry newsletter the Real Deal, the lenders (Tribeca-based New York City Waterfront Development Fund II) filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court in November, seeking the return of $16.5 million (the original amount of the 2011 loan, none of which has been repaid), along with $2.63 million in accrued interest, plus attorney’s fees and court costs.
The defendants in this action are a partnership between the Poulakakos restaurant family (who operate numerous Lower Manhattan eateries) and the Dermot Company (a developer of garden apartment complexes around the United States that more recently branched out to New York projects, such as the conversion of Brooklyn’s landmarked Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower into condominium residences). To read more…
Lower Manhattan Greenmarkets
Tribeca Greenmarket
Greenwich Street & Chambers Street
Every Wednesday & Saturday, 8am-3pm
Food Scrap Collection: Saturdays, 8am-1pm
Open Saturdays and Wednesdays year round
Schedule Changes: Market closed 12/25 for Christmas Day and 1/1 for New Year’s Day.
The loyal community of neighborhood residents who shop at the Tribeca Greenmarket show up each Wednesday and Saturday year-round to get their fix of locally grown produce, sustainably raised meat, seafood, sheep’s milk cheese and yogurt, orchard fruit and berries, herbs, live plants and cut flowers. Cooking demonstrations, raffles, and educational activities make the market a hands-on experience for shoppers of all ages.
Bowling Green Greenmarket
Green Greenmarket at Bowling Green
Broadway & Whitehall St
Open Tuesday and Thursdays, year-round
Market Hours: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Compost Program: 8 a.m. – 11 a.m.
The Bowling Green Greenmarket brings fresh offerings from local farms to Lower Manhattan’s historic Bowling Green plaza. Twice a week year-round stop by to load up on the season’s freshest fruit, crisp vegetables, beautiful plants, and freshly baked loaves of bread, quiches, and pot pies.
Fulton Street cobblestones between South and Front Sts. across from McNally Jackson Bookstore.
Locally grown produce from Rogowski Farm, Breezy Hill Orchard, and other farmers and small-batch specialty food products, sold directly by their producers. Producers vary from week to week.
INDOOR FARMERS MARKET STORE:
91 South St., bet. Fulton & John Sts. Open Monday – Saturdays 11:30 AM – 5 PM
Indoor Market Hours: Monday – Saturday
11:30 AM to 5:00 PM, year round
SNAP/EBT/P-EBT, Debit/Credit, and Farmers Market Nutrition Program checks accepted at all farmers markets.
Setting Up House
The Church Street School for Music and Art (41 White Street) is continuing a 25-year tradition by offering Gingerbread Family Workshops on Saturdays and Sundays (11 and 12; and 18 and 19), priced at $85 for early registration or $100 on the day of the event.
To-go kits are also available to assemble at home, complete with a gingerbread house, candy, and freshly made icing. In addition to offering great holiday fun, this program is one of the most important fundraisers for the highly regarded non-profit institution that has brought enrichment to the lives of generations of Lower Manhattan kids.
