A busker’s ball and the Harbor Ring Ride: 12 things to do this weekend

By Ethan Jakob Craft

A cursory check of your phone’s weather app will show that Brooklyn is in for a gorgeous spring weekend of mostly sunny skies and highs hovering around 70 degrees, creating the perfect atmosphere for, well, you name it!

There are volunteering opportunities and free art shows for Earth Day, first-of-their-kind events like the New York Arab Festival and Tri-State Collegiate Cup esports tournament, a 60-mile bike ride circling New York Harbor, a pop-up market in front of the Brooklyn Museum and the annual NYC BuskerBall—and that’s just the beginning. 

Start planning your calendar now, because here is what’s happening in Brooklyn this weekend.

Friday, April 22

Volunteer for Earth Day
Various times
Earth Day is Friday, and there’s no shortage of opportunities around the city for Brooklynites to get involved with, volunteer and help improve our planet. Learn the ins and outs of at-home composting at the Rockaway Avenue Community Compost Site; turn discarded bicycle parts into arts and crafts at a family-friendly “upcycling” event at Shirley Chisholm State Park; or help process food scraps and clean up the garden at the Wyckoff House Museum’s farm in East Flatbush. Most Earth Day events are free, but consult each listing for exact pricing, timing and registration details.

Take in an Earth Day art show
3 p.m.
If you had your fill of volunteering earlier in the day, then head to Skool Milk in the afternoon for an Earth Day art show. In partnership with Brooklyn Music Week, this clothing store-slash-gallery space in Windsor Terrace will be hosting a full day of art, music, food, drinks and fashion from 3 to 10 p.m.; general admission tickets, which include a complimentary T-shirt (while supplies last), cost $20 per person, though people under 21 years old can get in free before 7 p.m.

Celebrate Arab-American culture
6 p.m.
The inaugural New York Arab Festival is coming to Brooklyn this Friday, honoring Arab-Americans and their contributions to society with a program that includes a live painting by artist Manar Abdelmaaboud that’ll explore “Disney’s racialized depictions,” a performance by dancer and choreographer Nadia Khayrallah, and live music by the Brooklyn Maqam musical collective with several special guests. Held at the Invisible Dog Art Center in Cobble Hill, remaining tickets range from $10-20, depending on how early you purchase yours; admission includes a small meal at Iftar time, when the Ramadan fast is broken each evening.

Immerse yourself in Ketamine: The Musical
6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
“Ketamine: The Musical,” otherwise known as the “most infamous show” that House of Yes has ever created—and that’s saying something—is back, bringing its “immersive, participatory, psychoactive and dissociative spectacle” to the Bushwick nightclub for a performance that promises you will leave the venue “a changed human being.” This Friday is the final call for “Ketamine: The Musical” in a nearly two-week run, and it probably goes without saying that it’s 21-and-over; general admission tickets start at $40 each, though if you’re unable to attend in-person, House of Yes will also be streaming the show.

Saturday, April 23

Ride your bike along New York Harbor
9 a.m.
After a successful ride last spring, the annual New York Harbor Ring Ride is back for its second year, offering cyclists the option of either a 35- or 60-mile route that, at its most extreme, will run from John Paul Jones Park near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, up to the northern tip of Manhattan, down the Jersey coast, and ending on Staten Island with finishing festival featuring live music, food trucks and “free swag.” It’s free to participate in the ride, though advanced registration is required, and organizers also ask that you wear blue so other rides can easily identify each other. Full details on the check-in process, route options and more can be found here.

Draw a picture, support Ukraine
10:30 a.m.
Books Are Magic and local art studio Private Picassos have teamed up this weekend to host “Draw For Ukraine,” a charity art fundraiser that invites artists of all ages and abilities to draw messages of hope, peace and unity for a country under siege. Running for two hours until 12:30 p.m., the event at Books Are Magic’s Carroll Gardens store is free to attend, though donations are always welcome; there will also be raffles held throughout the event to win original paintings and prints from some of the city’s preeminent artists. All proceeds from the event will be donated to UNICEF Ukraine and New York-based nonprofit Razom for Ukraine.

Cheer on your alma mater’s esports team
2 p.m.
This Saturday, BrookLAN video game bar in Bushwick is hosting its first-ever Tri-State Collegiate Cup, a roughly 10-hour event in which the esports teams from top schools in the region will duke it out in virtual rounds of Smash Ultimate and Valorant until a winner is crowned. Admission for spectators is free and sign-up information for competitors can be found here, though don’t let the name fool you: The “Tri-State” Collegiate Cup is actually open to teams from four states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

Support local artists at the NYC BuskerBall
7 p.m.
Some of the most talented street and subway performers from around the globe will converge in Brooklyn on Saturday night for BuskerBall 13, a concert series, competition and all-around celebration of busking. Held at Unit J at 338 Moffat Street in Bushwick and will run until 2 a.m., admission to this year’s NYC BuskerBall ranges from $20 for a “basic ticket” to $500 for a “VIP ticket,” which includes a three-course gourmet dinner, unlimited drinks, a private lounge, and the right to act as a judge in the event’s highly competitive Busker Battle. Check out the event’s website for the full slate of performers.

Sunday, April 24

Make your own incense
8 a.m.
To learn everything you’ve ever wanted to know about making incense, check out this Sunday’s hands-on class that will not only teach you the basics of their creation, but leave you with your very own incense that you can burn at home. Hosted by the Life Wellness Center in Bed-Stuy, just a few blocks away from the Kingston-Throop Avs A and C line subway stop, this 90-minute class runs bright and early on Sunday morning and costs $60 per person to attend.

Swing by the Brooklyn Museum’s pop-up market
10:30 a.m.
If you happen to find yourself near Grand Army Plaza on Sunday, head over to the Brooklyn Museum between 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. (or after you finish the marathon), where more than 20 local vendors will converge for the museum’s final weekend Pop-Up Market of the season. There, you’ll be able to find locally made artwork, jewelry, fashion, home and apothecary goods.

Learn the finer points of Haitian cuisine
2 p.m.
Author, entrepreneur and chef Nadege Fleurimond is hosting a cooking party this Sunday for the public to come experience how to prepare, season and cook the Haitian way—and taste some of the country’s delicacies for yourself. The two-hour course’s menu includes dishes like pwason gwo sel (fish stew), diri a djon djon (Haitian mushroom rice) and Barbancourt passion fruit mojitos, with all-inclusive tickets running at $70 each. It’s happening at the Flatbush Central Caribbean Marketplace on Caton Avenue.

Woo a man in uniform
6:30 p.m.
Ladies, if you’ve ever wanted to “snag your very own hero,” as this event’s listing suggests, then consider Sunday’s “Rescue Me” singles’ mixer in Williamsburg, which aims to pair Brooklyn’s “hottest” firefighters and EMTs with eligible bachelorettes of any profession. Running until 11:30 p.m. at Ainslie, an Italian restaurant near the Metropolitan Avenue G line station, this (heteronormative) event includes free appetizers, first responder-themed trivia, and a “hottest firefighter contest.” Womens’ tickets cost $25, but for the men—who must show agency ID to prove their credentials—it’s only $15 each.