Seeing Starz in East River State Park

Though McCarren Park may feel like the center of the Greenpoint/Williamsburg universe, there’s a new park on the block—or the waterfront, rather—that is taking center stage and stealing the spotlight: East River State Park. In addition to outdoor summer concerts on the waterfront, Greenpoint-based community organization Town Square Inc. is in the process of relocating their popular film series, SummerStarz, from McCarren Park to East River State.
For the past five years, Town Square’s SummerStarz has offered North Brooklynites free, weekly outdoor screenings of family-friendly films, in addition to live music, performances and guest appearances. While summertime often brings with it a rash of public programs throughout the five boroughs, those targeted towards children of all ages are few and far between in Williamsburg.
“It’s an extremely important program because there are so few cultural family programming opportunities offered in our neighborhood parks and open spaces,” Anderson said. “We really need to see alternative programming geared towards families…SummerStarz is a movie night plus entertainment plus an activity hour for kids.”
The activity hour will be hosted by a different partner organization—like the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Brooklyn Public Library and the Greenpoint Toy Center—each week, creating a true sense of community collaboration in the neighborhood. “It’s a wonderful way for different parts of the community to come together and do something for our families and our kids,” Anderson said. “It’s also a favorite evening for the seniors in our community.”
While McCarren Park has served as a gracious host for SummerStarz in the past, Anderson, in addition to community leaders and local elected officials are thrilled at the prospect of relocating to the waterfront.
“This is great, it gives a really beautiful venue for the SummerStarz events,” said Assemblyman Joe Lentol, a longtime supporter of Town Square. “At twilight, with the Manhattan skyline in full view, it’ll be a really beautiful, wonderful experience for people. SummerStarz has always been a great program and this will make it even better.”
Though the program has not been finalized just yet, Rachel Gordon of the New York State Parks Department is confident that all the necessary papers will soon be “signed, sealed and delivered.”
“It’s wonderful to have a variety of programming in our parks, to balance out the quiet times,” Gordon said. “And we are working towards a good deal of programming for this summer. It hasn’t been finalized just yet, but parks are all things to all people, and we are just trying to keep everyone happy.”