10th Annual Summer On the Hudson Festival Opens 5/2

Summer On the Hudson (SOH), one of New York City's largest free summer festivals, opens its Tenth Anniversary Season Sunday, May 2, at Riverside Park South with the Irish Arts Center's 9th Annual all-day New York City Irish Dance Festival. The six-month series, running through October 10, is an annual summer arts and cultural festival in Riverside Park South, West 59th Street to West 72nd Street at the Hudson River, presented by The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

The 2010 Festival once again features a wealth of free events for the entire family, in the arts and recreation: this year's Movies Under the Stars (July 7-August 11) are themed Tall Tales, and include the larger-than-life Pan's Labyrinth, Stranger Than Fiction and Neverending Story; the Sunday evening Acoustic Sundays (July 11-August 15,) features the SOH debuts of Grammy-nominated Michael Powers Frequency and Meta and the Cornerstones' African pop and reggae; the Children's Performance Series, Thursday mornings July 8 to August 12, entertains with Improv4Kids, Robbi K, Bindlestiff's Swashbuckling Cirkus and much more; all-day special events such as the May 23 Mamapalooza featuring all-mom rock bands, and the September 12 West Side County Fair, bringing a bit of country and green awareness to the city - including livestock! And finally, the ever-popular kayaking returns, every Saturday and Sunday from May 15 to October 10, including free instruction, as well as health and fitness with yoga, pilates and soccer for tots. Food and drink is for sale at the park's Pier I Café,

All events are FREE to the public and are programmed by Zhen Heinemann, Riverside Park Director of Programming. For more information on all events, please call 311 or (212) 408-0219, or visit www.nyc.gov/parks /soh, or www.riversideparkfund.org.

Riverside Park South is a unique combination of greenspace, esplanades, winding pathways, wooden boardwalks, plazas, and ball fields, with panoramic north and south views of the Hudson River. Summer on the Hudson strives to present events that meet the cultural and recreational needs of the community, enrich the daily lives of New Yorkers, and brings diverse groups of people together in a magical setting.

Parks & Recreation is the steward of more than 29,000 acres of land--14 percent of New York City-including more than 4,000 individual properties ranging from Yankee Stadium and Central Park to community gardens and GreenStreets. We operate more than 800 athletic fields and nearly 1,000 playgrounds. We manage four major stadia, 550 tennis courts, 52 public pools, 48 recreational facilities, 17 nature centers, 13 golf courses and 14 miles of beaches. We care for 1,200 monuments and 22 historic house museums. We look after 600,000 street trees, and two million more in parks. We are New York City's principal providers of athletic facilities. We are home to free concerts, world-class sports events and cultural festivals. For more information about Parks, visit our website: www.nyc.gov/parks/soh.

2010 SUMMER ON THE HUDSON

SPECIAL EVENTS

Sunday May 2, 1:00 - 8:00pm
Pier I @ 70th St
Irish Arts Center New York City Irish Dance Festival

The Irish Arts Center is back in the park with its 9th annual celebration of traditional Irish dance and music, featuring performances by stars of the Irish dance world and NY area dance schools. Join in on the fun with live music, workshops in traditional Irish dance for all skill levels, a singer's circle, Irish language classes, face-painting, children's craft table and more! This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the New York State Council on the Arts, a public agency.

Sunday May 23, 12:00-5:00pm

Pier I at 70th St / Special PURE Yoga-Thon pre-event, 11am.
7th Annual Mamapalooza Outdoor Extravaganza

Moms Rock! Celebrate mothers and the people who love them at our annual music and art-filled afternoon featuring mom bands Swingset Mamas, KORE, AudraRox and Moey's Music Party, Catholic Girls, Jump With Jill, Skye ‘The Soul Poet', Nancy Lombardo ‘Momedy' MC, as well as a Gymboree Play Tent, arts & crafts, eco-environmental information,Smart4Kidz, food, vendors, interactive fun, and more!

Sunday, September 12, 1:00pm - 6:00pm Park-wide
8th AnnuAl West Side County Fair

Enjoy a little country right here in Manhattan and celebrate the change of seasons with carnival rides and games, music, square dancing, sideshow performers, a petting zoo, greenmarket and more! Visit the "Green Acre" environmental corner, with hands-on activities for kids about environmental awareness, green living, and animal care.

MUSIC & DANCE

Every Sunday from July 11 - August 15, 7:00pm
Pier I at 70th St
Acoustic Sundays
Enjoy spectacular sunsets over the Hudson as you listen to some of New York's best jazz, R&B, and world music.

July 11 - Liony Parra Y La Mega Mafia Tipico
"The big hit of the 2009 SOH Main Squeeze Festival was Liony Parra y la Mega Mafia Tipica <http://www.myspace.com/lionyparra> , who absolutely slayed with a wildly danceable set of merengue: a lightning-fast button accordion, harmony singer, congas, cajon and bass drum along with a five-string bassist " - Lucid Culture.com

July 18 - Meta and the Cornerstones
Meta and the Cornerstones fuse Afropop, Hip-Hop, Rock and Soul with a mixture of French, English, Wolof, and Fulani vocals. The band consists of six members who bring their musical background from the coast of Africa, North America, Asia and the Middle East.

July 25- Michael Powers Frequency with opening act Angel Rose / Blues

Grammy-nominated "Singer-guitarist Michael Powers behaves like he's got a Delta hellhound on his trail. We're not so sure that's the case, but the gritty soul on his record Prodigal Son is befitting a cat who apprenticed with James Cotton." Time Out New York

Aug 1- Xylos / charming NYC indie-pop

Xylos is a co-ed, aurally adventurous five-piece orgy of pop from New York, their music characterized by four-part vocal harmonies, complex orchestration, and a large variety of instruments and electronics. The music of Xylos has been compared to that of the Shins, Paul Simon, and Fleetwood Mac

Aug 8 - Slavic Soul Party /Fiery Balkan brass, hip-grinding grooves & ecstatic anthems

Throbbing funk grooves, fiery Balkan brass, Gypsy accordion wizardry, and virtuoso jazz chops make Slavic Soul Party! NYC's official #1 brass band for BalkanSoul GypsyFunk.

Aug 15 - Los Soneros de Oriente / Cuban Son

Taking their name from the region of Cuba that is most famous for Son Montuno, Los Soneros de Oriente represent a huge history and lifelong commitment to traditional Cuban music.

Sundays, June 6 - 27, 6:00 - 9:00pm
Pier I
Let's Dance!
Learn to dance like a pro at these salsa, cha-cha and bachata lessons and group dances led by master teachers from the Piel Canela Dance and Music School.

Thursdays, July 8 - August 12, 10:30am-11:30am
Pier I at 70th St.
Children's Performance Series

Music, storytelling & theater for young audiences. Suitable for kids up to age 7.

July 8 - Bossy Frog Band

The Bossy Frog Band are award-winning children's musicians that provide a high energy and high octane interactive music show for children ages 1 - 8 years old and their families. They play banjo, guitar, bass and harmonica and sing fun, funky and hip songs.

July 15 - Improv 4 Kids

Hilarious interactive musical comedy for the whole family based on audience suggestion and participation. "A production you and your children don't want to miss" - ABC News

July 22 - Buccaneer Bindlestiff's Swashbuckling Cirkus

Last year they brought a Wild West feast: this year they present Buccaneer Bindlestiff and Peg Leg Philly in a brand new pirate themed circus mayhem party.

July 29 - Robbi K & Friends

Robbi K makes award winning albums like Keep the Beat and Music Makes Me Happy. Her shows combine music, theater, and culture with a worldview to bring a sense of the world community to family audiences,

August 5 - Erin Lee & Marci

Join NYC's hilarious-yet-hip duo for a family concert celebrating mud puddles, couch forts, neighborhood baseball games, terrible haircuts and other assorted joys (and challenges) of summer.

August 12 - Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater

City Parks Foundations presents Puppeteers from the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater in Sleeping Beauty, set in Central Park's Belvedere Castle.

MOVIES

Every Wednesday evening from July 7 - August 11 dusk (8:30pm)

Pier I
Movies Under the Stars
Pack a picnic, bring a friend and settle in for a night of premier Hollywood movies.

Tall Tales
Movies for those who believe in escaping into a good book. Appropriate for ‘tweens and teens as well as adults.

July 7: Neverending Story

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen - 1984, NR. A boy who needs a friend finds a world that needs a hero in a land beyond imagination!

July 14: Pan's Labyrinth

Directed by Guillermo del Toro, 2007. Rated R for graphic violence and some language. What happens when make-believe believes it's real? In the fascist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.

July 21: Inkheart

Directed by Iain Softley, 2009, PG. With Brendan Fraser, Sienna Guillory, Eliza Bennett. A young girl discovers her father has an amazing talent to bring characters out of their books and must try to stop a freed villain from destroying them all, with the help of her father, her aunt, and a storybook's hero.

July 28: The Fall

Directed by Tarsem Singh, 2008, Rated R. In a hospital, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastical story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances.

August 4: Big Fish

Directed by Tim Burton, 2004: PG13. With Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter A story about a son trying to learn more about his dying father by reliving stories and myths his father told him about himself.

Aug 11: Stranger Than Fiction
Directed by Marc Forster, 2006; PG. With Will Ferrell,, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson. An IRS auditor suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire life, from his work, to his love-interest, to his death.

WELLNESS AND RECREATION

Saturdays & Sundays, May 15 - October 10, 10:00am- 5:00pm

72nd St. & the Hudson River

Kayaking on the Hudson

Join the Downtown Boathouse for 20-minute instructional paddles, and explore the Hudson River first hand. Please wear a bathing suit or shorts and a t-shirt, and know how to swim

Weather permitting. Daily Weather Status: (646) 613-0740.

Wednesdays, June 9 - September 22, at 6:30pm
The Plaza at 66th Street
Yoga-Evening Salute to the Sun

End your day with relaxing Hatha yoga in a beautiful sunset setting. Suitable for all fitness levels. Please wear loose, comfortable clothing and bring your own mat.

Tuesdays, June 8 - August 24, 6:30pm
The Plaza at 66th Street
Pilates - Mat Class

This total body workout is a great way to develop superior core muscle power and tone, all with a beautiful view of the Hudson. Please wear loose, comfortable clothing and bring your own mat.

Wednesdays, July 7 - August 4.
Soccer Tots & Pee Wee Basketball

All little ones (5 and under) welcome at this introduction to soccer and basketball.

Soccer Tots; 9:00- 10:00am
Pee Wee Basketball; 10:030 - 11:00am
71st St. Soccer Field and Basketball Courts