By Tracy Zwick
Last chance to watch the Olympics! Two of my favorite Olympic spectacles are happening this weekend: the marathon and the closing ceremony. If you have a wild night on Saturday, you might be able to catch the marathon when it airs live around 2:00 a.m. in New York. For everyone else, the replay will be available on Peacock throughout the day. Live coverage of the closing ceremony begins at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Let’s make weekend!
9 – 11 August 2024
Learn outrigger paddling and standup paddleboarding at Pier 96 in Riverside ParkFriday evening and Saturday morning (click Here for available times); free, rain or shine! Pier 96 Boathouse is located in Clinton Cove Park on Westside Highway at 56th Street
A friend told me about these courses and I was curious. You have to be able to swim and be at least 14 years old to participate, but New York Outrigger, the volunteer organization that runs these courses, provides each participant with a personal flotation device, instructions and all the necessary equipment. They make it clear: you will get wet
Listen to world-class blues and enjoy a NYC BBQ: Blues BBQ Festival at Pier 76Saturday, August 10, 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.; free event with food for purchase. Pier 76 is located between West 34th and 40th Streets and the Westside Highway
I remember picking up my car from the tow lot that used to be at 34th Street and the river! But three years ago, the 245,000-square-foot Pier 76 opened in its place, with water views, benches, and plenty of flexible outdoor space for events like this free, all-day festival. Blues artists like Blackcat Zydeco, Gordon Lockwood, and Joe Louis Walker will perform on multiple stages, and BBQ from Blue smoke, Dickson’s FarmDinosaur Bar-B-Que, Kimchi Smoke Barbeque, Mighty Quinn’s and more are available for purchase. Mexican desserts from La New Yorkina will also be offered. There will be a Blues Marketplace, cornhole and dancing.
Picnic with jazz in Central ParkAugust 10, 3:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.; Great Hill in Central Park at 106th Street; free
Bring your basket and a blanket and enjoy the style of Lezlie Harrison, the Matthew Whitaker Quintet, the Christian Sands Quartet and the Orris Evans & Captain Black Big Band, all free and close to home. The easiest access is via 106th or 108th Street.
To read: “Circle of Hope” by Eliza Griswold; published on Wednesday, August 6
If you’re like me and love reading, you’ve got a lot of titles on your reading list. This one is at the top of my list – especially because it’s written by a fellow Upper West Sider. Griswold is a former St Hilda and St Hugh She is a parent and maintains her place in the neighborhood despite a full-time job as director of the journalism program at Princeton University. A minister’s child, poet, and practitioner of “immersion journalism,” Griswold joined a radical church in Philadelphia that is the subject of this nonfiction book. The church fractured at the time of the pandemic as things became increasingly politicized, and Griswold examines how the good intentions of members of that congregation went awry. If you are interested in why people leave their churches, American evangelicalism, or how “political” differences can destroy otherwise strong, loving bonds, you may want to read this book, too. Did I mention that Griswold’s Pulitzer Prize winner and regular contributor to The New Yorker?
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