Summertime in Brooklyn.
Summertime and the livin’s easy as Brooklyn’s own Gershwin mused. Summertime in Brooklyn offers all sorts of amazing activities happening all over. From classical music, jazz, mermaids, hip-hop, outdoor movies, hot dogs, fireworks, museums, rides, parades, and more. Summertime in Brooklyn delivers.
Summertime in Brooklyn kicks off with the NY Philharmonic in Prospect Park.
The NY Philharmonic in the Park series is perhaps the most magical concert of the entire season. It will happen June 14 at 8 pm. The NY Philharmonic provides a concert hall experience every June on the fields of Prospect Park for free. Concertgoers pack up blankets, chairs, wine, and food and sojourn toward the Prospect Park fields for this once-a-year event. Children frolic all over the lawn with light-up fairy wands and light saber toys as classical music fills the sweet, evening air.
This year the NY Philharmonic will be conducted by Thomas Wilkins and playing Beethoven’s Egmont overture, Mendellsohn’s violin concerto in E minor, along with pieces by those in the Very Young Philharmonic Composers Program. The show concludes with fireworks!
The Mermaid Day Parade is a Must!
Summer doesn’t officially begin until the Mermaid Day Parade every June. The Mermaid Day parade will happen June 22 and this will be its 40th anniversary. King Neptune and the MerQueen lead their fellow, enchanting sirens from West 21st Street, down Surf Avenue and onto the boardwalk.
People prepare their mermaid costumes months in advance. It is a celebration of aquatic imagination and creativity. Some prepare their shimmery, sequined, always glamorous, costumes months in advance. There is music, performance art, dancing and more. The festivities don’t stop until the sea-faeries get sleepy and retire to their grotto.
Mermaid hair don’t care!
Summertime in Brooklyn means July 4th in Coney Island!
Arrive with an empty stomach because no place does Independence Day like Coney Island! Every 4th of July Coney Island hosts the world famous Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. July 4th will be on a Thursday this year and the contest will commence at 11 am and go until 1 pm.
Participants will be allotted 10 minutes to cram as many hot dogs down their gullets as their bodies can withstand. Vomiting is an automatic disqualification. The hot dogs and buns may be eaten separately, but all contents must be consumed. Contestants are allowed water, which many use to dip the bun into to soften it. The grand prize is $10,000. Competitive eaters from the world over will be there. The gluttonous, sausagey suspense will surely have you on the edge of your seat.
Afterwards you can head over to the beach to catch some sun and waves. You could also ride the legendary Cyclone or get a bird’s-eye view of the city on Deno’s Wonder Wheel. Later at 9:45 pm there will be patriotic fireworks.
Celebrate Brooklyn! is one of the best treats of summertime in Brooklyn.
Celebrate Brooklyn! is one of the longest-running, free, outdoor performing arts festivals in all of New York City. For over 40 years, Celebrate Brooklyn! has been delivering programs celebrating the beauty and diversity in all things music, film, dance, and culture. It is produced by BRIC, Brooklyn Information & Culture, which is Brookly’s leading, non-profit multimedia hub.
Each year performers, from Brooklyn and allover, come to Celebrate Brooklyn! at the Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park. World-renowned talents have performed here, such as Laila Downs and Anoushka Shankar. Jazz sensation Taj Mahal has played multiple times throughout the years. In 2010, JG Thirlwell conducted an orchestra featuring his own furious, dissonant musical score for the animated show Venture Bros. Jazz guitarist Stéphane Wrembel is inspired by Django Reinhardt and in 2015 played his twangy, warm, upbeat songs, which have been featured in Woody Allen movies.
There are tents where you can get fried vittles in carnivore or vegan options. The beer and wine selections are superb. Toward the stage there is seating. Behind there is a grassy knoll where you can lay out a blanket and turn the event into picnic-tainment. There are also contests you can enter that offer a chance to win seats in the VIP seats tent, among other goodies.
This year Celebrate Brooklyn! will open on June 8 with Family Day. Join the Halluci Nation, an electronica band with rhythms and melodies inspired by indigenous sounds. Each year Celebrate Brooklyn! features one movie. This year it will be displaying Spike Lee’s iconic Do the Right Thing, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary. It is the quintessential Brooklyn tale. The Habibi Festival will showcase music from the Middle East and South Asia. Celebrate Brooklyn! will feature this and so much more.
the West Indian Day Parade sees off summer.
Finally there is the West Indian Day Parade, which means it is sadly the end of summertime in Brooklyn. Every Labor Day weekend, a flurry of trucks, colors, sequins, and performers on stilts roll and strut down Eastern Parkway toward Grand Army Plaza from Crown Heights. The West Indian Day Parade obviously celebrates culture from the West Indies and Caribbean. The sequined, feathery costumes are a Caribbean tradition that traces its roots back to Africa, where the costumes were used in rituals to honor ancestors. The stilts are also a tradition, which was brought from Africa. African villages would use stilts to look out into the distance to watch for dangerous animals or warring tribes.
There are vendors selling colorful flags representing Caribbean countries and fresh, tropical fruits. For the best views of the costumes go to the Brooklyn Museum. Despite the gray, dismal days looming off on the horizon, the West Indian Day Parade shakes any dread you have out with its blasting reggae hall music and cheerful atmosphere!
No place else in the world does summertime like Brooklyn.
Summertime can be brutal in Brooklyn, but we are a city of hard knocks and we rise to the occasion. Brooklyn says “let’s do something!” when mother nature turns up the heat. There are other events that go on weekly. Coney Island will have fireworks shows along with karaoke on the boardwalk. Brooklyn Magazine hosts Paramount+ Movie Nights in Prospect Park, Coney Island, and Forte Greene. There is no reason not to have fun with all of this packed into the roster!
Paramount+ Movie Nights
Prospect Park, Long Meadow
June 26 Raiders of the Lost Ark
July 3 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
July 10 School of Rock
July 17 Clueless
Coney Island, Coney Island Beach at West 12th Street
July 11 A surprise new feature film to be announced
July 18 Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning
July 25 Everything Everywhere All At Once
August 1 Love and Basketball
August 8 The Warriors
Fort Greene Park
August 15 Past Lives
August 22 School Daze
August 29 Bob Marley: One Love
September 5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Beach, Boardwalk Karaoke, and Fireworks schedules:
May
May 25 NYC beaches open Memorial Day weekend. Lifeguards are on duty from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm.
JUNE
June 16 Father’s Day Opening at 11:00am & Karaoke 2:00pm-6:00pm
June 21 First Fireworks Show of 2024 at 9:45pm & Karaoke at 7:00pm
June 22 Mermaid Parade
June 28 Fireworks Show 9:45p & Karaoke at 7:00pm
JULY
July 4 Happy Birthday America! Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest!
July 5 Fireworks Show 9:45pm & Karaoke at 7:00pm
July 12 Fireworks Show 9:45pm & Karaoke at 7:00pm
July 19 Fireworks Show 9:45pm & Karaoke at 7:00pm
July 26 Fireworks Show 9:45pm & Karaoke at 7:00pm
AUGUST
August 2 Fireworks Show 9:45pm & Karaoke at 7:00pm
August 9 Fireworks Show 9:45pm & Karaoke at 7:00pm
August 16 Fireworks Show 9:45pm & Karaoke at 7:00pm
August 23 Fireworks Show 9:45pm & Karaoke at 7:00pm
August 30 Last Fireworks Show of the 2024 season at 9:45pm & Karaoke at 7:00pm
SEPTEMBER
September 1 Last Karaoke of the 2024 Season 2:00pm-6:00pm
September 2 Happy Labor Day Opening at 11:00am
September 8 NYC beaches close for the season. Summer is truly over.
As always I, and the team at Brooklynites.nyc, thank you for reading. Brooklynites will be away for the beginning of the summer season, but will be posting again. Click back soon. <3
Read our article about the history of Brooklyn’s amusement industry next:
https://brooklynites.nyc/brooklyns-amusement-parks/
Read our article about last year’s Coney Island Independence Day:
https://brooklynites.nyc/a-coney-island-4th-of-july/
These are the oldest bars in Brooklyn you can have an icy, refreshing beer at during those hot dog day afternoons:
https://brooklynites.nyc/brooklyns-oldest-bars-2/
Pizza is good any time of year:
https://brooklynites.nyc/brooklyn-style-pizza/
The Celebrate Brooklyn! 2024 lineup!
https://bricartsmedia.org/celebrate-brooklyn/
Read about the history of the New York Philharmonic in the Park program: