From Rockaway to Long Island City to Bayside, Queens will celebrate City of Water Day Saturday with free events across the borough and the rest of the city.
Now in its 12th year, City of Water Day celebrates the Big Apple’s 520 miles of shoreline with more than a hundred organizations.
“This year on City of Water Day, as we gather at shorelines all around the metropolitan region to enjoy our beautiful waterways, let us engage in important conversations about resiliency and access,” Waterfront Alliance President and CEO Roland Lewis said. “This is a day to play, and a day to acknowledge our shared responsibility. As climate change irrevocably transforms our lives, we need to address this regional, national and international global emergency together.”
The daylong events across the borough include a shoreline cleanup at the Alley Pond Environmental Center, a fair at Bayswater Park at the 108th Street Ferry Landing, a fishing clinic at Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City and a walking tour of the second phase of Hunters Point South Park. The Guardians of Flushing Bay will be offering dragon boat tours from the boat ramp located on Marine Road in Corona.
Several events will take place in several locations around Jamaica Bay, including a festival at Beach 108th Street and Beach Channel Drive. There will also be a kayak tour of Jamaica Bay with the American Littoral Society at Beach 88th Street and Beach Channel Drive, which is also the location of the second annual Jamaica Bay Festival organized by the Rockaway Parks Conservancy in partnership with the National Park Service, NYC Parks, Queens Public Library, the Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers, NYC Ferry and the Rockaway Artists Alliance.
“At the Jamaica Bay Festival on City of Water Day, we are partnering with more than 20 organizations and agencies to offer fun, free activities to the public, including kayaking, nature walks, bird watching, art and more. Come experience Jamaica Bay,” Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy Executive Director Alex Zablocki said. “City of Water Day helps to increase awareness of and access to the beautiful wetlands and shorelines of Jamaica Bay in Queens and Brooklyn, and it also helps us expand citizen stewardship as we work to ensure that these precious natural areas are always protected.”
Free PortNYC boat tours will be offered on all kinds of vessels from tall ships to tug boats at docks throughout the city by individual operators with additional sponsorship from the New York Economic Development Corporation.
“We encourage all New Yorkers to partake in the day’s festivities and rediscover why New York City is the greatest maritime city in the world,” NYCEDC Executive VP Matthew Kwatinetz said. “Throughout our work on NYC Ferry, which continues to expand throughout all five boroughs and PortNYC, which contains the fifth largest cruise port in the nation. We are focusing on ensuring New York Harbor remains the crossroads of transportation, culture and commerce.”
