Park Slope eats and cinematic feats: 11 things to do this weekend

By Ethan Jakob Craft

Well we had about two days of spring and now it’s apparently summer. And a kinda-wet one at that. Whether you prefer to luxuriate indoors in the cool comfort of your AC or photosynthesize in the sporadic sun, there is sure to be at least one activity in the borough this weekend that’s to your liking.

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.

Meanwhile, here is what’s happening in Brooklyn this weekend:

Friday, June 3

Ride your bike to Roosevelt Island
6 p.m.
Hop on your bicycle and enjoy a “mellow evening spring ride to one of the most unique places in the city” this Friday: the Roosevelt Island Lighthouse, up at the island’s northernmost tip. The equivalent distance of riding from Delancey Street to 86th in Manhattan (and back), this roundtrip ride starts and ends from Brooklyn’s Domino Park, right beside the Williamsburg Bridge. The estimated two-hour guided trip is free to join, though advanced registration is required.

Enjoy a weekend of Horror(witz)
7 p.m.
We’re still a solid five months away from Halloween, but if you’re a horror junkie looking to get your frights year-round, check out this weekend’s “Chamber of Horror[witz]” event at Film Noir Cinema in Greenpoint. Hosted by occult scholar Mitch Horowitz, this three-night screening includes one classic film each night through the weekend—”Nosferatu” on Friday, “The Cabinet of Dr. Cagliari” on Saturday, and “Golem” on Sunday—followed by a Q&A with Horowitz after the show. Each $25 ticket includes entry to all three films, and the projectors begin nightly at 7 p.m.

Release your inner Belieber
7:30 p.m.
Justin Bieber is passing through Brooklyn this Friday as part of his Justice World Tour—bringing along with it guests Jaden, Harry Hudson, and ¿Téo?—and there’s still time for fans to scoop up a few of the remaining tickets for the pop icon’s mostly sold-out Barclays Center show. At the time of publication, the cheapest seats still available on sites like SeatGeek and Ticketmaster are going for just over $200 a pop, while first row floor seats can be had for a cool $1,440 each.

Saturday, June 4

Swing by the Brooklyn Museum
All day
We’re approaching the first Saturday of the month, which means the Brooklyn Museum will be putting on a full day of programming for the public. The institution is hosting a pop-up market featuring local vendors and artisans between 5 and 9:30 p.m.; there will be musical performances throughout the evening from groups including the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus and indie rock band Kalbells; and it’ll screen handful of films with post-viewing Q&A sessions. Most of the individual events are free to attend, or free with admission, but check the museum’s online calendar for exact details.

Take in the annual Bushwick Collective Block Party
10 a.m.
The Bushwick Collective Block Party is back for an 11th straight year, bringing live music and DJs, food trucks and street art to three blocks of the neighborhood along Scott Avenue, giving you a chance to meet some of your favorite performers and graffiti artists from across New York and around the world. General admission is free, though the festival is also hosting a Modelo-sponsored beer garden; entry to that is $70 per person and includes front stage access for performances, private bathrooms, free water, snacks and beer, and more.

Score some designer toys at Five Points Festival
11 a.m.
Billed as “America’s premiere Designer Toy festival,” this all-day event is a convergence of independent toy makers, street artists, comic illustrators and fashion designers from all walks of life, creating an antidote to what Five Points’ organizers call “the average con.” Featuring an on-site tattoo parlor, live painting sessions, panel discussions and more, this festival runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday at ZeroSpace, a live event space on the border of Gowanus and Boerum Hill. Single-day tickets are around $30 each, a two-day pass is $45, and VIP entry—which gets you in an hour before everyone else—is available for $125.

Go to Photoville
1 to 10 p.m.
Photoville Festival 2022 is returning for its eleventh year of exceptional photography from across the world and, for the first time, will be held at outposts in all five boroughs. The celebration of photography kicks off in its original location, Brooklyn Bridge Park, with a sprawling Opening Day Community Celebration on Saturday. The good people at Photoville will once again host artist-led walking tours, workshops, and opportunities for educators and students to connect with the Festival’s featured visual storytellers.

Sample the tastiest foods in Park Slope
2 p.m.
If you’re a regular reader of Brooklyn Magazine’s weekend to-do list, then you may recognize the name Tastes of Brooklyn, a group which hosts recurring neighborhood-based, self-guided food tours that showcase the best restaurants and bars in Brooklyn; first it was Tastes of Bed-Stuy in April, then Tastes of Flatbush in May, and now this weekend, it’s Park Slope’s time to shine. Its June event features the same pricing structure as usual, giving attendees four “tastes” for $35 or 12 for $100, and features nearly two dozen eateries centered along Fifth Avenue. Check out Tastes of Park Slope’s event map for a complete list of participating locales.

Take a history-themed cemetery tour (and then start drinking)
3:30 p.m.
This Saturday’s “Revolutionary Spirits Trolley Tour” is, when you break it down, exactly what it sounds like: a guided tour of Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, covering a veritable who’s-who of the American Revolutionary War’s permanent residents, which concludes at the Fort Hamilton Distillery in Industry City with a whiskey flight, straight-from-the-barrel tasting, and lessons on how to bottle your own hooch at home. Tickets for this combination cemetery-distillery excursion are available online for $50 each, though if it sells out, don’t panic: Green-Wood is running the same tour roughly once a month through the end of the summer.

Sunday, June 5

Learn about the chemistry of soap
11 a.m.
Genspace, the public lab that has previously brought Brooklynites the ability to edit literal genomes, is back with a new workshop this Sunday: a step-by-step chemistry course on how to make cold process soap, how to safely work with lye, and how to craft your own suds in your kitchen at home. This two-hour hands-on lesson held at the nonprofit’s Sunset Park space costs $70 per person, or $35 if you’re an enrolled student, and includes all the necessary tools and ingredients for you to walk away with your very own self-made bar of soap.

Attend the launch of Free Film: NYC
3 p.m.
Join WORTHLESSSTUDIOS to celebrate the fourth iteration of its crowdsourced Free Film photography project, Free Film: NYC, which kicks off in Brooklyn this Sunday “with free [35mm] film pick up, discounted book sales of past Free Film books, and drinks in our bookstore,” the event’s online listing reads. Hosted by Pioneer Works in Red Hook, the two-hour launch is free to attend and open to the public; additional information about the event can be found online.