Flotilla and Music to Celebrate Return of Governor’s Island

Plans for a huge flotilla in New York Harbor on June 2 were turned upside down last month. But the organizers couldn’t be happier.

The event, in the works for almost a year, was originally planned as a "Take Back the Island" demonstration, a dramatic gesture to call on the federal government to return Governor’s Island to New York.

Suddenly, on April 1, President Bush announced that he would hand over the historic island, part of a deal that will include its transformation into a campus for the City University of New York.

"It was somewhat disorienting," said Albert Butzel, the flotilla’s coordinator. "But we realized that we still have to take the island back. It will come back to New York, but we have to convince the governor and mayor to create public spaces for people to go, ballfields for kids, in addition to having the island serve CUNY." Butzel said he also wants to push for new national monuments at the island’s two historic forts.

So the June 2 event remains a call to action, but is now also a celebration—of the island’s rich history and its prospective future as college campus, public park, national monument and tourist attraction.

It will be a day of festivities on water and land, kicking off at 10 a.m. with live music onstage on the Battery Park Esplanade.

Starting at about 10:30, up to 1,000 boats of all sizes will begin sailing past the Battery. The restored fireboat John J. Harvey will lead sailboats from the Manhattan Yacht Club, kayaks from the Downtown Boathouse, historic ships, tugboats, NY Waterway ferries and other vessels from around the New York region.

The fleet will assemble in the harbor. At around noon, a group of small boats will row through it, from the Battery to Governor’s Island, where sailors will raise flags and "reclaim the island for the people."

The festival on the Battery Park Esplanade, lasting until 3 p.m., will include face painters and clowns for kids, a crafts market, food, junior ROTC units doing drills, and historic characters like George Washington, Ulysses Grant and Samuel Morse narrating the island’s role in American history. Pete Seeger will perform at around 11:30 a.m.

There will also be free 30-minute boat rides to view Governor’s Island from the water.

"It will be an incredible spectacle and a great time," Butzel said.