History , Expertise , Travel

NY400 Week: Harbor Day

Outlook Google

Location
The Battery, Battery Park City, Brooklyn Bridge Plaza, Governors Island, Water Taxi Beach, Pier 84 in Hudson River Park, Snug Harbor Cultural Center.

Harbor Day, a city-wide public event, will be the culmination and  high  point  of  the  NY400  week.  Water  will  be  the overarching  theme  of  the  day,  with  a  wide  range  of activities up and down the Hudson and in New York’s waterfront parks. Spectators will be able to watch the events on the water on a giant video screen in the Battery, from stands seating between 7,000 and 10,000 viewers.

Harbor Day will kick off at 9:30 AM in The Battery with a bicycle tour led by the Netherlands' Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima. The program will continue, with world-class sailot Gary Jobson acting as master of ceremonies. The renowned Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy, consisting of 70 world-class musicians, will give a musical send-off to the Half Moon  and the Holland on the Hudson flotilla

.The Holland on the Hudson flotilla, from 10 PM till noon, will include a colorful assortment of historic Dutch and American yachts and sailboats, with Dutch flat-bottomed boats, the replicas of the Halve Maen (the Dutch ship that moored on Manhattan in 1609) and Onrust (the first European ship to be built in North America, in 1614),  two Dutch naval frigates HNLMS ‘Tromp' and ‘Van Speijk', and ‘Flying Dutchman' sailboats. You'll be able to catch all the action on video screens set up at the Battery. All these ships will sail from New York Harbor up the Hudson, after which the offical trophy ceremony of the Flying Dutchman Sailing Race will be held at Battery Park, as well as a performance by Ellen ten Damme, one of the Netherlands' most provocative singers.

 Visitors will also be able to enjoy the parks and use free NY400 bikes and water taxis. At Brooklyn Bridge Plaza – which has a breathtaking view of the harbor, downtown Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge – New Yorkers will have a chance to get to know different kinds of Dutch bikes as part of the event Biking in Breukelen. For all oyster lovers out there, the Harbor Day Oyster Festival at the Hudson River Park is the place to be.

That's not to mention the New Island Festival or Pioneers of Change on Governors Island —both of which promise a good time for all!