April 3, Avenue C Plaza Awakening: A Harbinger of Summer Fun
Clear out those parked cars. Make way for the new Avenue C Plaza on the asphalt triangle in front of the green MTA Relay Center at McDonald Avenue.
Co-sponsored by the Neighborhood Plaza Partnership (NPP) and The Kensington Stewards, the Avenue C Plaza’s kick-off event on Sunday, April 3rd will feature four bands, crafts, an art wall, storytelling, a pop-up library, plant giveaways, dance fitness, and end with a late afternoon (4:30pm) dance party.
(The Kensington Stewards’ first brainchild was the 2012 Kensington Plaza on Church Avenue in front of Walgreens’.)
When sit-down ready, the new plaza at Avenue C, i.e., the refurbished asphalt triangle, will feature a lily-pond floor mural, movable cafe tables and chairs, granite blocks, umbrellas, and planters. It is one of the 71 new plazas in the NYC DOT Plaza Program.
Starting at 1 pm, The Bond Street Theatre‘s Shinbone Alley Stilt Band will kick off Sunday, April 3rd’s “one-day plaza event” and strut around the plaza, with neighbors and 10-foot tall puppets taking the rear. (The puppets were made by Jill Reinier’s PS 230 students). Everyone’s welcome to join in.
Catch Councilmember Brad Lander’s welcoming speech at 1:50 pm. There will also be a Participatory Budgeting Voting Booth available on the plaza. The swirl of Sunday’s activities is just a small taste of those the new plaza will offer Kensington once it opens this summer.
[Grants from The Scherman Foundation to The Horticultural Society of New York’s Neighborhood Plaza Partnership program are partially funding the April 3 program.]
Sunday, April 3rd Line-Up
*** Opening Sunday’s music program, stilt walking musicians from Shinbone Alley Stilt Band will play drum, tenor sax, trumpet and trombone. Formed in 1982, they perform a mix of Dixieland, Swing, Rock, Jazz, and Blues at festivals and events worldwide. They also work with the Bond Street Theater in Afghanistan, Haiti, the Balkans and elsewhere.
“It’s a lot easier to teach a musician how to walk on stilts than a stilt walker to play an instrument!” according to Bond Street Theater managing director Michael McGuigan.
*** The Famous Accordion Orchestra, led by composer/accordionist Bob Goldberg, will perform at the April 3 performance, along with 2 other accordions and percussion.
Expect a wide-ranging program of American classical music, including Bernstein, Copeland, but also Pete Seeger, rock, reggae, and original compositions. The Famous Accordion Orchestra got their start playing at Green-Wood Cemetery’s Angels and Accordions, and also play the Community Garden circuit, including East Fourth Street. In January they made their film debut in a doc called “Accordions Rising.”
***The Feringhees are performing with two guitars, bass guitar, drums, a vocalist and violinist. These six musicians met about four years ago at City College. They’re a Bangladeshi-American rock band, influenced by classic Bengali film songs, American rock, progressive rock, and Bangla rock and fusion.
***Ritmosis, an Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz band, will play music for the dance party at the end of Sunday afternoon with dancer Taseen Ferdous, encouraging spectators and wallflowers to dance. They’re bringing six musicians: bass, drums, piano, a singer, percussionist and at least one horn. Check them out this Saturday, March 26 at the Blue Note in its Late Night Series.
And there are also non-music activities:
***Jill Reinier, the parent coordinator at PS 230, is well known for the folk tales she tells from countries around the world. Reiner performs under the name The Singing Winds, and starts at 3:25 pm on Sunday the 3rd. Her spell works on adults, too.
***Sue Braverman, a local horticultural therapist, will give a plant workshop and send you home with a plant.
***Cynthia Fortoza, an artist who teaches at a local school, hopes to bring out the artist buried in every participant at her art and craft workshop.
***For Adults (and kids): Sponges and non-toxic tempera paint are the media to paint a 4-foot paper mural at an “ENERGETIC PAINTING” workshop led by 22-year Kensington resident and artist, Diana Sanzone. She’ll provide the smocks and vinyl gloves, too, so you can dab or throw the paint without getting any of it on you.
***Get a full cardio workout at 4 pm, when another 20-year Kensington local, Taseen Ferdous, teaches a 20-minute Dance-Cardio Fitness Class, which she’s named “A Dancer’s Day.” In addition to teaching at Pure Barre in the West Village, Ferdous is a pre-K teacher.
And at the grand finale of that very busy Sunday, Taseen Ferdous will help you find your way onto the dance floor. Ritmosis will play music to encourage the shy, the nondancers, the over-50 crowd to join in and have a ball.