Aug 26, 2013 2 min read wedding planning

The Day: VMAs at the Barclays Center, Afropunk Fest and a Revolutionary War Reenactment

Concertgoers at AfroPunk Fest were excited to see Meat Loaf perform Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Amanda Woods)

Good morning, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

Brooklyn was in the spotlight this weekend, with last night’s MTV Video Music Awards held at the Barclays Center. Crowds gathered outside the arena hours before the event began, hoping to spot celebrities strutting across the red carpet.

“This is the best thing that ever happened,” one excited bystander told CBS News.

“Brooklyn — we are on the map,” added Al Tejada of Bushwick.

But not everyone was thrilled about the star-studded event coming to the borough, noting that local residents’ needs were disregarded on Sunday, and it was hard to get around the area surrounding the arena.

“You can’t even cross the street — you know, to go onto Flatbush Avenue — which I think is wrong. It’s not even until tonight,” resident Victor Thomas told CBS a few hours before the event. “They’re treating the neighbors like we’re second-class citizens or something, and I don’t think it’s right.”

Did you spot any celebs outside the Barclays Center on Sunday? What did you think of the atmosphere around the arena? Were you able to walk, or drive, around? Let us know in the comments, and share any photos you snapped on The Nabe’s Flickr group.

The VMAs weren’t the only music event in the nabe this weekend. Thousands of attendees from Brooklyn and elsewhere gathered at Commodore Barry Park for Afropunk Fest, a music festival held on Saturday and Sunday featuring hip-hop and indie artists such as Danny Brown, Jean Grae and Chuck D, among others. “We describe Afropunk as a free space for African Americans — and anyone else who wants to come onto that space — to just be who they are, and not being defined by monolithic definition of what, sort of, the outside culture puts on us as African American people. So if you like metal, if you like hip hop, if you like emo, if you’re into body modification or tattoos, it’s a space to be yourself,” festival organizer Jocelyn Cooper told Here & Now. If you attended the festival, who were your favorite performers?
Members of the Society of Old Brooklynites gathered at Fort Greene Park’s Prison Ship Martyr’s Monument on Saturday for a reenactment of the Battle of Brooklyn, one of the largest battles of the Revolutionary War, News 12 Brooklyn reported. The event marked the group’s 105th annual memorial tribute to the 1776 battle, according to the station.
The Barclays Center is looking to hire 40 new facility workers for the arena. Preference will be given to residents of Community Boards 2, 3, 6 and 8, NYCHA residents and graduates of BUILD, according to the hiring website. Pre-screening events, which you must attend in order to be considered for a position, will be held in downtown Brooklyn between today through Friday. Final interviews will be held during the week of Sept. 3, also in downtown Brooklyn. You can register here for a pre-screening event, and you must have an email address in order to register.
The Department of Transportation will mill – or remove the top layer of asphalt – from DeKalb Avenue on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The department asks for locals’ patience and understanding, as milling can be noisy and disrupt sleep. If you’ve parked your car on the avenue, remember to move it to another block. If your car is still there when the DOT begins work, it will be relocated within three blocks. If your car is relocated, the DOT recommends calling (718) 222-7285.