2020 VISIONS
Where to spend New Year’s Eve in Brooklyn
The fireworks at Prospect Park draw thousands of spectators each year. Photo by
Azikiwe Aboagye
COURIER LIFE, D 50 ECEMBER 20-26, 2019
Solstice songs: The annual Make Music Winter festival will feature Flatfoot
Flatbush, where participants will play fiddles and demonstrate a traditional
Appalachian dance. Make Music Winter
Merry melody
Music parade marches
through Brownsville
By Rose Adams The season marches on!
A musical holiday
parade will strut through
Brownsville on the afternoon
of Dec. 21, the shortest day
of the year. The Be Merry
Music Parade — one of three
Brooklyn events in the citywide
Make Music Winter celebration
— will be the first of its kind for
the neighborhood, according to
its organizer.
“This will be the first time
that the community will be the
audience and we’re performing
for them,” said Manuel
Larino, from the Brownsville
Community Justice Center, the
group hosting the event. “In
other parades, people are invited
to walk in the procession. This
is going to be more similar to
the Macy’s Day Parade, where
people are watching from the
sidelines and singing along.”
The mile-long procession
will feature eight musical
acts, cheerleaders, and
elected officials, all marching
from Rockaway Avenue near
Pitkin Avenue to the Marcus
Garvey Clubhouse on Chester
Street and Dumont Avenue,
Larino said.
Several acts — including
DJ Collaborative, an all-girl
group of disk jockeys, and
Sounds of Brownsville, the
Justice Center’s own music
collective — will perform on
floats equipped with stages and
microphones. Between those
floats, marching bands will play
Caribbean music, and a choir
singing holiday favorites will
bring up the rear.
Another float, decked out
with Christmas decorations,
will blast the streets with
a snow machine, turning the
route into a winter wonderland,
said Larino.
At the end of the route, which
snakes from Rockaway Avenue
to Mother Gaston Boulevard
and back again, attendees will
find a holiday market full of
vendors, give-aways, and more
performers.
The Brownsville parade is
one of three Brooklyn events
happening in partnership with
Make Music New York — a
group that organizes free,
outdoor music events on the
winter and summer solstices.
Larino said that the Brownsville
group has hosted stationary
music events during the summer
event for the past three years,
and is excited to join the winter
tradition.
“We’ve enjoyed the practice
of the summer solstice and just
the thought of having the parade
and connecting the community
in that way was exciting,” he
said.
The other two events are
the Flatbush Flatfoot, where
dancers and fiddlers progress
down Flatbush Avenue in
Prospect Heights while doing
a stompy Appalachian dance,
and the Kensington Plaza Sing-
Along, where attendees can belt
out their holiday favorites with
local musician Deirdre Rodman
Struck.
Be Merry Music Parade
along Rockwell Avenue
between Pitkin and Dumont
avenues in Brownsville, www.
makemusicny.org. Dec. 21;
11:30 am–1 pm. Free.
IBy Ben Verde t’s the end of the decade as we
know it!
New Year’s Eve is coming
up soon, and you need to decide
how you are going to welcome
the Roaring 2020s! Whether you
want to spend this special midnight
at a dance party, a rock show, a
fireworks display, or a beer bash,
Kings County has got you covered!
Begin in Berlin
Celebrate New Year’s Eve
early! Schnitzel Haus in Bay Ridge
will sync its celebration to the
date change in Berlin — which
means that it will be midnight
there, and 6 pm in Brooklyn! So
you can bring the kids, munch on
sausage and schnitzel, welcome
the new year with a countdown
and noisemakers, and still go
home and get a full night’s sleep.
Reservations recommended.
New Year’s Eve at Schnitzel
Haus 7319 Fifth Ave. between 73rd
and 74th in Bay Ridge, (718) 836–
5600, www.schnitzelhausny.com.
Dec. 31; 5–8 pm. Free.
New Year’s Dance
Ring in the new year with
a techno-bumping rager at
Elsewhere, a massive warehouseturned
nightclub in Bushwick. You
can catch chillwave legend Neon
Indian’s spinning in its cavernous
Hall, or enjoy more intimate sets
with local disk jockeys in Zone
One or the smaller upstairs Loft
room. The entire venue will join
in a champagne toast at midnight.
New Year’s Eve at Elsewhere
599 Johnson Ave. at Scott
Avenue in Bushwick, www.
elsewherebrooklyn.com. Dec. 31;
9 pm–4 am. $55.
Rockin’ Eve
You can bang out the new
year with a rowdy rock show of
grungy guitars at the Music Hall
of Williamsburg. Pom Pom Club’s
snarling riot grrl punk will get
you ready to take on the new year,
and Reign Wolf’s sludgy, distorted
grunge will take it home for those
looking to headbang ther way into
2020.
Reign Wolf and Pom Pom Club
at Music Hall of Williamsburg 66
N. Sixth St. between Wythe and
Kent avenues in Williamsburg,
(718) 486–5400, www.
musichallofwilliamsburg.com.
Dec. 31 at 10 pm. $35.
With a bang!
Celebrate the end of another
year with a spectacle of lights and
fire! Head to Grand Army Plaza
for the best view of the New Year’s
Eve Fireworks over Prospect
Park, where you can join Borough
President Adams and thousands
of your fellow Brookynites in
listening to hits from local band
Quintessential Playlist, followed
by fireworks at the stroke of
midnight.
New Year’s Eve Fireworks
at Grand Army Plaza Flatbush
Avenue at Eastern Parkway in
Prospect Heights, (718) 965–8951,
www.prospectpark.org/nye. Dec.
31 at 10:30 pm. Free.
The roaring ’20s
Ring in the 2020s with a trip
back to the 1920s! Brooklyn
Cider House will become a
roaring speakeasy for the evening,
featuring an open bar, delicious bar
bites, a cider-champagne tower,
an anachronistic vinyl DJ and a
screening of the ball drop from
Times Square! Guests who show
up early for a $69 dinner can score
party tickets for just $59. Don’t
forget your flapper dress and
newsboy cap!
Roaring ’20s Party at Brooklyn
Cider House 1100 Flushing Ave.
between Varick and Porter avenues
in Bushwick, (347) 295–0308, www.
brooklynciderhouse.com. Dec. 31;
10 pm–2 am. $100.
Brewery ball
On the other side of Brooklyn,
the Coney Island Brewery is also
leaning into the ’20s theme, turning
its newly expanded taproom into a
full-blown speakeasy, featuring a
raucous jazz band and sideshow
acts. Your ticket will get you four
drink tickets and some late-night
bites — but make sure you get
the password, or you’ll be left in
the cold!
New Year’s Eve Party at
Coney Island Brewery 1904 Surf
Ave. at W. 16th Street in Coney
Island, (718) 996–0019, www.
coneyislandbeer.com. Dec. 31; 8
pm–2 am. $40.
Sweet and sour
You can dance the year away
with a groovy night at Lemon’s in
Williamsburg, the sixth floor bar
of the Wythe Hotel. The discosoaked
evening will be anchored
behind the decks by Nelleke, and
well-heeled partiers can revel in
the upscale ambiance — a latenight
table reservation has a $100
per person minimum; or you can
pay $20 at the door for access to the
dance floor all night long.
New Year’s Eve at Lemon’s 80
Wythe Ave. between N. 11 and 12th
Streets in Williamsburg, (718) 460-
8006, www.lemonsbk.com. Dec.
31; 8:30 pm–2 am. $20.
Give me an N-Y-E: Pom Pom Squad is
very excited to play New Year’s Eve at
the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Really.
Photo by Michael Todaro
/www.coneyislandbeer.com
/www.makemusicny.org
/www.schnitzelhausny.com
/www.elsewherebrooklyn.com
/www.elsewherebrooklyn.com
/www.musichallofwilliamsburg.com
/www.musichallofwilliamsburg.com
/nye
/www.brooklynciderhouse.com
/www.brooklynciderhouse.com
/www.makemusicny.org
/www.coneyislandbeer.com
/www.lemonsbk.com
/makemusicny.org
/www.schnitzelhausny.com
/elsewherebrooklyn.com
/musichallofwilliamsburg.com
/nye
/brooklynciderhouse.com
/coneyislandbeer.com
/www.lemonsbk.com