New York

The Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival, June 5-6
Red Hook is home to an almost embarrassing number of businesses and services that are unique to the neighborhood, whether you're looking for fresh Maine lobster or a vegetable farm growing in Brooklyn (or, yes, a piece of un-assembled furniture whose name has more vowels than consonants). See the waterfront community come together for its annual summer kick-off at Dance Theatre Etcetera's 16th Annual Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival in Valentino Park, June 5-6, 2009. Chow down on the best food from the area (think Jamaican jerk and Mexican tacos), take a free kayak ride in New York Harbor to take in the breathtaking views of Lady Liberty, and enjoy the Mainstage entertainment from a lineup jam-packed with enough of Brooklyn's best dance, music, and spoken word artists to fill a month of Sundays at Celebrate! Brooklyn's outdoor concert series. Progressive community building combined with an outdoor dance party? Of course it's in Red Hook.

Photo:  Edwin Anglero

The Brooklyn waterfront is a hot topic. The National Trust recently named it an Endangered Place, while work on Brooklyn Bridge Park is picking up speed. Few spots combine the waterfront’s gritty industry with its increasing refinement as smoothly as the Valentino Pier in Red Hook. Beside it is a graffitied brown brick wall, a yellow crane, and a chain-link fence, with sounds of power tools and beeping trucks muffled in the wind. But the end of the pier brings sudden tranquillity: a wide view of the harbor sweeping from the Verazzano Narrows Bridge to Lower Manhattan, with the white ripples of motorboats in between. With Fairway just a short walk away, it’s the perfect place for a far-flung picnic.

Photo:  Becky Dalzell