Get ready to dance, Ridgewood — the wildly popular Mister Sunday party is coming to Nowadays.
Two of the three owners of the outdoor bar, located at 56-06 Cooper Ave., Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin, will be bringing their DJ skills from Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, into Queens this summer when Nowadays opens for the season.
For those who are not familiar with the iconic dance party, Mister Sunday is described as a Sunday afternoon party for all ages and all walks of life.
“It is referred to as a party. There will be no live music playing, and we won’t be DJing like at a show,” Carter explained. “We will be playing records and people can come down, dance, drink and have a good time. It’s definitely an all-ages party. We had one Mister Sunday party at the end of last year at Nowadays. Lots of different kinds of people come.”
A common sight at the Mister Sunday parties are parents with their kids, especially during the beginning of the day, Carter said. He also mentioned one fan who comes to dance who is in his 90s.
Fans of music will be happy to know that the Mister Sunday parties feature a wide variety of genres, including funk, jazz, disco, soul and more.
Mister Sunday is not the only new program coming to Nowadays this summer.
Carter announced that Nowadays will be hosting a 10-week film series in conjunction with the Maysles Center, as well as a summer-long educational series where college professors from Olio come to the outdoor bar and teach courses ranging from history to philosophy to anthropology.
“This is really great. We wanted one of the big parts of what we are doing at Nowadays to be education, but we wanted it to be exciting education,” Carter said. “What’s better than learning something fun while having good food, enjoying a nice day outside and having a beer?”
Every Wednesday night Nowadays will host a ping-pong tournament where contestants sign up for a chance to get their name on the weekly winner’s board and win some great prizes.
“Of course we’ll also have all the other great things we had at Nowadays last year – good food, good drinks, and a really nice atmosphere,” Carter said. “Keeping things fun and mellow will be our main priority as we sprinkle in these other pieces of programming throughout the summer. We still want to be the neighborhood’s big backyard.”
Nowadays is set to open on May 12. For more information on these programs, dates and times, visit the Nowadays website.
