Here’s What’s Happening

This Week In & Around Chelsea

Spring Fling / Down to Earth Farmers Market Chelsea / The Full Board of Manhattan Community Board 4 / Programming In, Around Bella Abzug Park / Gianetta’s Vendetta: A Free Musical Event  / Super Sidewalk Fest / June PRIDE Month Events: Paws for Pride; Seventh Avenue South; and Chelsea Community Church PRIDE-Themed 1pm June Sunday Services

But First, OUR PICKS OF THE WEEKEND

Down to Earth Farmers Market Chelsea: Satudays, 9am-2pm | Seasonal, local food by vendors you can rely on for the basics and trust when it comes to embracing new cuisine and ingredients is the great strength of this weekly market that pops up Saturdays, 9am-2pm, on West 23rd Street off of Ninth Ave. A tip worth taking: Click here to sign up for their newsletter, and every week you’ll get a preview of what’s so special about the next Market. On Thursday of this week, for example, the newsletter arrived with an opening observation about how June’s many virtues (great weather, longer daylight hours) makes the month a popular one for weddings. This segued nicely into a section featuring iconic food duos “whose partnership you can elevate by sourcing fresh, seasonal ingredients from the farmers market this weekend.” Bacon & eggs, peas & carrots, and surf & turf were among the happy marriages mentioned. Also a source of food for thought in advance of each Saturday’s market: A visit to its online presecce (click here to do so). A new addition for 2024: Textile Recycling! Bring your linens, old clothes, shoes, torn, stained, or new to recycle (look for the green bin). Also Note: Food Benefit Programs are welcome. Go to the Manager’s Tent to use your SNAP EBT card and get tokens to spend with the vendors. Matching Health Bucks are available ($2 for every $2 withdrawn, up to $10). FMNP vouchers can be used June-November. For a full explanation of benefits, visit this link. NYC residents who have questions about the FMNP program can dial 311.

The Full Board of Manhattan Community Board 4 (MCB4): Wednesday, June 5, 6:30pm Online via Zoom & YouTube and In-Person at a Pier 57 Classroom (25 11 Ave. at W. 15th St.) | The full membership of MCB4 convenes on the first Wednesday of the month, as it indeed does on June 5. But summer has its own rules and traditions–which means the July/August MCB4 calendar puts the kibosh on its “first Wednesday” schedule, in favor of a July 24 meeting that serves as the full board gathering for that month as well as August. And hey–just because the June full board meeting adheres to the standard “first Wednesday” schedule, don’t go thinking there’s nothing special about it. That gathering will mark the debut of seven new MCB4 members: Liam Buckley, Kevin Collins, Max Goodstein, Ella Kim, James MacDonald, Chenise Mitchell, and Catie Savage. Click here to view the June 5 agenda and draft versions of letters generated by individual committees and voted on by the Board’s full membership (approved as is, pending changes per Full Board discussion or, rarely, returned to committee for more work). At the June 5 meeting there will be a presentation from the NYC Commission on Racial Equity and a Public Hearing (aka an opportunity for the public to speak) regarding the NYC  Department of City Planning’s City of Yes for Housing Opportunity Application. A Public Session also lets you speak directly to the Board (uninterrupted and usually for 2 minutes). To register for the meeting and view it via Zoom, click here. To view it live via CB4’s well-curated YouTube channel, click here. Note: All MCB4 meetings–including this one–can be viewed after the fact, as archived recordings on the YouTube channel. Also Note: Zoom registration allows you to sign up for the Public Hearing and Public Session, up to 3pm on the day of the full board meeting. There will also be a sign-up sheet at the meeting for those attending in person. To attend the meeting via phone, call 646-518-9805 (when prompted, the Webinar ID s 986 0945 5541). For info about all things MCB4, their website can be found by clicking here.

The Hudson Yards/Hell’s Kitchen Alliance Presents May Through October Free Programming In & Around Bella Abzug Park | Another season of free, all-ages programming is underway in and around Bella Abzug Park (W. 34th to 35th Sts., 10th to 11th Aves.). For the complete schedule, click here—and in the coming weeks, see this listing’s updated versions, as we feature a rotating collection of fitness, music, movies, and dance events.

Bien Good Well offers free yoga classes Mondays and Wednesdays at 6pm and Saturdays at 10:30pm in Bella Abzug Park. To register, click here. Every other Thursday in June, July, September, and October, Vinyl Nights fills Bella Abzug Park with dance-demanding classics of the 70s, 80s, and beyond, as spun by veteran NYC DJs working with, yes, real vinyl records. For more info, click here. Looking ahead, the public space programmers from Street Lab will be popping up in Bella Abzug Park for six weeks in July and August, bringing interactive activities for kids of all ages.

Gianetta’s Vendetta: A Free Musical Event on Friday, June 7, 6pm at Chelsea Green Park (140 W. 20th St. btw. Sixth & Seventh Aves.) | Friend of Chelsea Green, the imaginative park boosters who orgaized this event, say, “Come support a local Chelsea artist and hear some great music.” This is actually a return booking for Ginetta, after her well-regarded 2023 booking as part of the park’s music series. This “jazz ambassador” conducts her musical ministry by playing pocket trumpet and serving as lead vocalist as she travels the world with her acclaimed jazz combo. So come see Chelsea Green Park fill with the sights and sounds that have captivated audiences in Moscow, Jakarta, Paris, Beirut, Jamaica, Canada, Mexico, and beyond!

NEXT WEEK IN & AROUND CHELSEA

Super Sidewalk Fest: Saturday, June 15, 12pm to 4pm on 54th to 56th Streets & Ninth Ave. | Celebrate the NYC Department of Transportation’s transformation of a strip of Ninth Avenue into one of their so-called “Super Sidewalks” (created when a creative paint job reclaims a vehicle lane in the name of mitigating bike and pedestrian congestion). On the afternoon of June 15, the activities and “pop-up spectacles” appearing somewhere between W. 56th and W. 54th Streets (and probaly all the way down to W. 51st)will include a marching band, a stilt walker, and one-of-a-kind creations from street tape artist Kuki. See the below flyer for a visually enticing approximation of what to expect from a sidewalk gone “Super.”

—JUNE PRIDE MONTH EVENTS—

Paws for Pride: Celebrate Pride with Your Pup, in Chelsea / Saturday, June 8, 2pm at Verdi Cannabis (158 W. 23rd St. btw. 6th & 7th Aves.) | Chelsea’s first–and currently, only–legal cannabis dispensary, Verdi Cannabis, is the host venue for this dog fashion show that promises to be every bit as compelling and adorable as the phrase, “dog fashion show.” See the below flyer for details.

Seventh Avenue South: A New One-Act Play Performed June 3, 7, & 9 at Hudson Guild Theater (441 W 26th St.) | Chelsea-based playwright David Allard’s new one-act claims the first part of PRIDE Month with a June 3-9 run as part of the New York Theater Festival. That’s the same platform that launched his 2022 play, Pañuelos. Set in 1977, it viewed Argentina’s “Dirty War”—in which 30,000 Argentinians would be tortured or killed—through a queer lens, with mother/son conflict to boot.

Allard’s new work, Seventh Avenue South, unfurls during the decisive year of 1969, just  before Stonewall would go from merely the name of a Greenwich Village bar to a one-word go-to for gay rights, gay riots, and decisive shifts in everything from HR policy to niche marketing to pop culture visibility. But like the characters in Pañuelos, the five efficient archetypes of Seventh Avenue South aren’t calibrating their behavior and beliefs with the hindsight of history enjoyed by the audience. They’re just reacting to events as best they can, given who they are—or perhaps more accurately, who they want to be. And so we find, before Stonewall’s fateful call to action (or entropy), the springtime move-in of a gay couple to their new Greenwich Village digs. WASP-ish lawyer Samuel is resigned to reside in the closet when doing otherwise threatens the security of his dream job or that nice, new apartment. His partner, actor Carlos, thinks otherwise, not afraid to drop coded gay bombs when nosy landlady Mrs. Beasley announces her intention to play hetero matchmaker for the new “close as brothers” tenants. Fashion mag worker Maggie, who calls them as she sees them, sees right through the subterfuge and couldn’t care less—while closeted cop Charles, best friend to the conflicted couple, is about to have his own moment of reckoning. When the riots subside and the metaphorical dust settles, not everybody can claim a place on the right side of the seismic shift that was Stonewall. While there’s plenty to be proud of during PRIDE Month, Allard reminds us that a history book written by the winners falls short of telling decidedly less heroic tales that still have much to teach us, and to say.

Sean Prasso directs the cast of five: David Allard, Tony Dempsey, Alexandra Lebow, Amy Losi, and Caleb Moreno. “Seventh Avenue South” is performed on Mon. June 3 at 6:15pm; Fri. June 7 at 9pm & Sun. June 9 at 3:30pm. At Hudson Guild Theater (441 W. 26th St. btw. 9th/10th Aves.). To purchase tickets, click here.

Chelsea Community Church PRIDE-Themed 1pm June Sunday Services at St. Peter’s Chelsea (346 W. 20th St. btw. 8th & 9th Aves.) | For a half-century, the non-denominational Christian Chelsea Community Church (CCC) has, they note, welcomed “people of all faiths and those who are uncertain about their faith” by providing a safe and inclusive space. That space—physical and spiritual—devotes its weekly 1pm Sunday services in June to the theme of “Pride,” in its many colors-of-the-rainbow variations. The celebratory month began June 2, with guest speaker Revd Linda Tarry-Chard (United Church of Christ). On June 9, Revd Joseph Nicholson (Non-denominational Protestant) speaks on the topic Does Pride Goeth Before a Fall?

The June 16 service, led by congregation member Scott Barbarino, is a loving tribute to the late CCC member Jerry Scott. “Jerry was an extraordinary Manhattan entertainer and consummate musician whose stellar renditions over a span of 40 years encompassed every genre of music from show tunes to standards; from pop to operetta to ragtime,” recalls Barbarino, who notes the honors amassed by Scott include “MAC and BISTRO awards for Best Piano-Bar Performer and the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Piano-Bar Performance.” Fittingly titled A Celebration of Jerry Scott, the service features music by Michael Beau, Pam Palmieri, Colm Reilly, Steve Ross, and Marcus Simeone, with special speaker Tree Sequoia. On June 23, Revd John Magisano (Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches) will be the speaker at The Blessing of Drag Artists, a service celebrating the contributions and resilience of drag artists within the LGBTQ+ community. “Drag artists have been pivotal in the fight for equality, from the Stonewall riots to the AIDS crisis, and today, they remain a vibrant and integral part of the LGBTQ+ community,” noted CCC in its preview material, adding, “This special service is an opportunity to show appreciation and solidarity with a community that has long supported others.” Showing their love will be a community choir, vocalists Nina Blue and Cameron Mitchell Bell, special speaker Ruby Rims, and a special blessing by Revd Joe (DollFace) Nicholson focusing on themes of love, acceptance, and unity. The series concludes on June 30 with the nondenominational Revd Diane Trinkaus and vocalist Jeanne MacDonald. Then, from 2:30pm-6:30pm, all are invited to stop by, as the church is adorned with “images from the AIDS Memorial Quilt and other important parts of LGBTQ+ history.”

All services take place at 1pm, at St. Peter’s Chelsea (346 W. 20th St. btw. 8th & 9th Aves.). To visit the Chelsea Community Church website, click here. To send an email, click here. To leave a voicemail, call 212-886-5463.

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