Pride, parades and a House of Yes summer shindig: 13 things to do this weekend

By Ethan Jakob Craft

It’s going to be a beautiful weekend in the city, and not just because of the weather forecast. There will be all-ages celebrations of the borough’s LBGTQ+ communities; impressive art installations in a lush urban garden; parades and festivals showcasing the best of some Brooklyn neighborhoods; and a quasi-holiday exclusively for the consumption of pink wine, just to name a few. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

As long as you’re planning ahead, be sure to get your tickets now to the inaugural Brooklyn Magazine Festival, which culminates in two days of concerts in Prospect Park, Lakeside at LeFrak Center on June 17 and 18. Headliners include Car Seat Headrest, DJ Premier and a roster of killer acts including Empress Of, Sudan Archives, Gabriel Garzón-Montano and more. More details (and tickets) here.

Here’s what is going on in Brooklyn this weekend:

Friday, June 10

Network at a minor league baseball game
6:30 p.m.
Is there anything more symbiotic than baseball and professional networking? Probably. But that isn’t stopping the Brooklyn Cyclones from hosting a multi-industry mixer at its Maimonides Park home game this Friday evening, bringing together local start-ups and eager entrepreneurs for a night of—fingers crossed—forging new professional connections. Tickets to the event, which include full entry to the Cyclones’ game against the Aberdeen IronBirds of Maryland, are $25 per attendee.

Don’t say ‘Disney’ to support the LGBTQ+ community
7 p.m.
After Disney failed to speak out against Florida passing its “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the Brooklyn Comedy Collective decided to strike back with a bill of its own: a playbill for “Don’t Say Disney,” a satirical stand-up show featuring a roster of 10 so-called “Disney Millennials” parodying all things Disney. Tickets to the show at BCC’s Williamsburg space are $15 each, with proceeds from the show going to support Orlando-based nonprofit Hope and Help, which provides health care service to the local LGBTQ+ community.

Kick off ChamberQueer’s Pride festival
7 p.m.
This Friday marks the start of ChamberQueer 2022, a weekend-long event celebrating LBGTQ+ artists and communities. Opening night’s festivities center on a “new collaboration by Miriam Parker and Mazz Swift [that] weaves musical voices into conversation across the centuries through improvisation and movement,” according to the festival’s online listing. Tickets are $25 per person for the one-night event at National Sawdust in Williamsburg, though consult ChamberQueer’s website for a full list of artists, venues and performances throughout the weekend.

Saturday, June 11

Experience Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s ‘For The Birds’
10 a.m.
Kick off Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s complex-wide experience “For The Birds” this Saturday, featuring an exhibition of 30 custom birdhouses made by local artists and architects and coupled with a specially curated set of live music performances and site-specific listening stations. Timed entry tickets pegged to one of the garden’s three main entrances are required for admission and available online here; the price of adult entry is $18, though students and seniors can get in for just $12 each, and children under 12 years old are free.

Brooklyn Pride Festival and Main Stage
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue will celebrate Pride with a cross-section of the borough’s business, community, and city-wide organizations. In addition to the vendors, there will be a fabulous entertainment stage at Fourth Street displaying local, national, and international talent. And at Old Stone House / J.J. Byrne Park, 5th Ave. between 3rd & 4th Streets, there will be Family Fun Zone that features family activities, music, face painting, arts & crafts, story-time, and more. The full-day Pride Festival will stretch between Fifth Avenue between Union & Ninth Street

Toast to National Rosé Day
12 p.m.
Formal sommeliers and casual day-drinkers rejoice: it’ll be 5 o’clock everywhere on Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn, and the borough is starting its National Rosé Day festivities as early as noon. Rooftop Reds is hosting a couple of three-hour rosé parties in the Brooklyn Navy Yard for $65 per ticket, which includes blended flights and fresh oysters, just to name a few perks; Brooklyn Wine Fest is also going on that day a few blocks east, pairing wine of all sorts with live entertainment and tasty snacks, all for $15 each.

Celebrate Pride as a family, the Coney Island way
12 p.m.
Come one, come all… and (probably) save a lengthy subway ride, because the “magic of Coney Island” is coming to the heart of Brooklyn this weekend for a family-friendly Pride celebration. Coney Island Day at City Point: Kids Edition is a completely free three-hour fête and will feature all the Coney Island staples: stilt walkers, mermaids, strongmen, balloon artists and much more. Families are also encouraged to come in their most colorful costumes and join in the Rainbow Parade, which will circle through Albee Square and its surroundings starting at noon.

Experience the history of Brooklyn Heights
5:30 p.m.
Join the New York Adventure Club on a two-hour guided tour of lesser-known Brooklyn Heights sites, covering centuries of neighborhood history that helped shape both the borough we call home and the U.S. as we know it today. Tickets for “Exploring Brooklyn Heights: Authors, Abolitionism, Amazing Views” are $32 each, though if you’re interested, you may want to act fast: less than a dozen tickets are still available at the time of publication. Tours depart from the Brooklyn Borough Hall.

Learn the art of scoring TV shows and movies
5:30 p.m.
Whether you’re a cinema buff or amateur musician, you may want to check out this Saturday’s “Tribeca Talks” session, featuring a panel discussion of top composers who’ll dive deep into the business side of scoring movies, TV shows and more. Featuring Emmy winner Kathryn Bostic, “The Queen’s Gambit” composer Carlos Rafael Rivera, and Brooklynite Tamar-kali, this all-ages event is free to attend with pre-registration and is held at Baby’s All Right, a music venue on Broadway in Williamsburg.

Sunday, June 12

Stroll along the Flatbush Avenue Street Fair
11 a.m.
The Flatbush Avenue Street Fair is back after over two years on pause, bringing a half-mile of live music, delicious food and local retailers—much of it rooted in the neighborhood’s Caribbean cultures—to the thoroughfare between Parkside Avenue and Cortelyou Road. The event is scheduled to run between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. and is open to the public.

Don’t stress about the No Stress Fest
2 p.m.
After a long winter, the No Stress Fest is here to create a calming environment and usher in the summer, offering self-guided workshops and panel discussions as well as drinks, food and a live DJ. General admission tickets are $25 each for this event, taking place at Gideon’s Hall, an event space in Brownsville; it runs from 2 to 6 p.m., though “happy hour,” in which all drinks are free, ends after the festival’s first hour.

Indulge in a Summer of Love
3 p.m.
It’s been a solid 55 years since the original “Summer of Love” swept this nation’s hippies and free spirits, but the essence of that time is very much alive in Brooklyn, which will play host to the upcoming Summer of Love outdoor festival series this year. Held at the no-nonsense-named “Under the ‘K’ Bridge Park” in Greenpoint, this open-air event organized by iconic local nightclub House of Yes runs from this Sunday through the Fourth of July long weekend. Tickets for the festival’s first day (a.k.a. this Sunday) are available online for roughly $60 per person; additional details about the venue and line-up are available on the House of Yes website.

Watch a Puerto Rican parade in Sunset Park
5 p.m.
After a Covid-induced hiatus, the annual Sunset Park Puerto Rican Parade and Festival is back for a sixth year to honor the local Puerto Rican communities as well as those who lost their lives in the pandemic, Hurricane Maria, and fighting for the island’s liberation. The parade begins at the intersection of 59th and 5th at 5 p.m., making its way down to 43rd Street where a music festival will begin at 6 p.m.