Are you ready for Memorial Day weekend? If you’re staying in the neighborhood, there’s plenty going on during the weekend, as Lower East Side History Month finishes another strong year.
The 30th Annual Loisaida Festival will enliven the Lower East Side on Sunday. The large open air event stretches from East 6th to 12th Street, bringing musical performances, delicious food and kid-friendly activities to the local community. The annual celebration of Puerto Rican and Latino culture kicks off at 11 a.m. with a Carnival Parade. Marine-combat-vet-turned actor, singer, and activist, J.W. Cortes, will return this year as the festival’s host. More info here.
The Theater For the New City’s Lower East Side Festival returns for a full holiday weekend of theater, art, dance, film, poetry and comedy. The theme this year is, “Art V Tyranny,” which looks to showcase downtown’s lively creative scene “in an era when everything from funding cuts to technology puts pressure on the arts.” The festival takes place Friday-Sunday at 155 First Avenue (10th Street). See the full schedule here.
Rooftop Films celebrates its return to New Design High School Saturday evening. In exile for a few years due to a lengthy asbestos abatement project, the popular film series is back on the very cool roof of the Seward Park High School building. The debut feature is The Genius and the Opera Singer, the story of a 92-year-old former opera singer and her volatile daughter who inhabited a rent-controlled Manhattan penthouse for the last fifty-five years. Doors open at 8 p.m. More info here.
Magnum Manifesto opens at the International Center of Photography. This new exhibition, debuting Friday, is a celebration of the 70th anniversary of Magnum Photos. The show, focused on the second half of the 20th century, features 75 masters, including Christopher Anderson, Jonas Bendiksen, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Cornell and Robert Capa. More details here.
An illustrated lecture on the “King of the Bowery,” colorful Tammany Hall boss “Big Tim” Sullivan will be offered by author Alice Sparberg Alexiou Wednesday evening. The lecture is sponsored by the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors and Grace Church High School. More info here.
On Saturday, the Hester Street Fair will be hosting a Lobster & Beer festival. How can you go wrong? Vendors include: Beer 7 Lobster, Claw Daddy and Tijuana Picnic. There will be $4 cans of beer and music by Ary Warnaar. Here’s the Facebook invite.
Community Meetings:
Wednesday, May 24 – Community Education Council District 1 Meeting. More info.
Thursday, May 25 – Two Bridges Environmental Review; Scoping Meeting. More info.
Wednesday, May 31 – Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Workshop. The focus will be on the area between Montgomery Street and the Brooklyn Bridge. More info.
