Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 23rd September 2026

Brooklyn Heights is getting a 50-story tower, more new buildings and two family clubs

Brooklyn Heights neighborhood news: Six residential projects are moving at once, the biggest of them a 50-story tower on Montague Street, and two private clubs pitched squarely at families are fitting out a few blocks apart. Here is what is going up, where, and how long each block is likely to be a construction site:
One Montague Place will rise about 50 stories and 672 feet at the northwest corner of Cadman Plaza West and Montague Street. Demolition finished in June and construction began in Ju...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 21st September 2026

Affordable housing lotteries in Williamsburg, Bushwick, Coney Island & East New York

Housing lotteries are open for new developments in Bushwick, Coney Island, East New York and Gravesend, with one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments available for eligible families. Applications are due between September 25 and October 13. See all open housing lotteries across the five boroughs here! Nine more Brooklyn buildings are taking applications for their waiting lists, which have no deadline at all — those are at the end of this article.
Apartments: 75 one-bedroom, 72 two-bedroom & 18 th...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 21st September 2026

Free kid-friendly events this week in Brooklyn (9/21-9/27)

This week, families can catch Brooklyn Book Festival Children’s Day at Brooklyn Borough Hall, the switch-on of the new lights at the McCarren Park tennis courts in Williamsburg, the Aqua Cosmos artwork projected onto the Brooklyn Bridge on Friday and Saturday night, Noche de Tambores: Brooklyn Brujeria Festival kickoff in DUMBO and more! Two big street fairs land on the same Sunday — the Atlantic Antic in Boerum Hill and the 3rd Avenue Festival in Bay Ridge. Brooklyn Bridge Parents’ guide to the...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 19th September 2026

The Week in Brooklyn, September 13–19, 2026: Community news

Brooklyn’s biggest stories of the week: A Brooklyn writer for the NY Times revisits the school choice she made for her daughter; buses, buffalo puppets and a Bay Ridge street fair filled a busy Saturday, a school bus hit a Crown Heights apartment building; a four-alarm fire tore through three Williamsburg restaurants; the Transmitter Park marina plan was sent back; the Bossert is becoming Ritz-Carlton Residences and a run of new places to eat, from a family cafe coming to Green Street to Naya’s...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 16th September 2026

Plan your visit to the Atlantic Antic Street Fair with kids: Sunday, September 27, 2026

Brooklyn’s oldest and largest street festival is back! The 51st Atlantic Antic takes over Atlantic Avenue on Sunday, September 27, 2026, from 12 to 6pm, rain or shine: ten blocks from Hicks Street to Fourth Avenue lined with food, music, shopping and three dedicated kids’ areas. Admission is free. Here is how to plan the day for your family.
12–4pm | Atlantic Avenue at Boerum Place | Free | All ages
Our own kids’ area, sponsored by Prospect Schools, brings a dozen free activities to Boerum Place...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 15th September 2026

Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn Heights to Become Ritz-Carlton Residences

The Hotel Bossert’s next chapter finally has a name. Marriott International and SomeraRoad, the investment and development firm that acquired the Brooklyn Heights landmark in 2025, unveiled plans this week to transform the former hotel at 98 Montague Street into The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Brooklyn Heights — the borough’s first branded residences. Construction of the 2 to 5 bedroom condos is expected to begin later this year, with completion anticipated in 2029. Stay tuned.
For neighbors not in...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 14th September 2026

Halloween Guide 2026 (all events are free)

Halloween lands on a Saturday this year, which means a full day of costumes, parades and candy with no school-night bedtime looming. Our annual Halloween Guide rounds up free, family-friendly fall fun and spooktacular events across Brooklyn. Organizers are still announcing their October plans, so we will keep adding events as they are confirmed — check back often! In the meantime, we have also got you covered with the Best Trick or Treating Streets in Brooklyn.
Saturday, September 26 | 1pm | Thi...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 13th September 2026

Free kid-friendly events this week in Brooklyn (9/14-9/21)

The first full week of school comes with a big free weekend! Families can catch the vintage buses of the Transit Museum’s Bus Festival in Brooklyn Bridge Park, fifty life-size buffalo puppets marching through Brooklyn, the Carroll Park Fair in Carroll Gardens, a free canoe or kayak paddle in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, ROTFEST in Bushwick and more! Be sure not to miss Brooklyn Bridge Parents’ FAMChella on Fifth in Bay Ridge on Saturday afternoon. Note: Yom Kippur begins at sundown on Sunday, Se...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 12th September 2026

The Week in Brooklyn, September 6–13, 2026: Community news

Brooklyn’s biggest stories of the week: Brooklyn marked 25 years since 9/11 with gatherings across the borough and along the waterfront; Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill surprised crowds at the People’s runway, Central Library opened its 4,700-square-foot Teen Center, the biggest in the system; the City put 15 mph slow zones outside hundreds of schools and opened 77 school Open Streets; the MTA unveiled the first station designs for the Interborough Express; 1.1 million kids went back to school Thurs...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 11th September 2026

Return of the Buffalo: life-size buffalo puppets march through Brooklyn on Saturday, September 19

A herd of 50 life-size buffalo puppets is coming to Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO! On Saturday, September 19 from 2 to 4.30 pm, Return of the Buffalo: Tatanka Owe Akupi will march from Abolitionist Place to Brooklyn Bridge Park, with live music, poetry and tribal ceremonies at every stop along the way.

Created by Amir Nizar Zuabi — the artist behind Little Amal, the giant puppet that walked the world — in partnership with Elders of the Lenape and Lakota Tribes, the procession ma...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 7th September 2026

New beach club opens at the Rockaways’ historic Riis Park bathhouse

The Rockaways’ landmark Jacob Riis Park bathhouse — built in 1932 and largely shuttered since the early 1970s — opened its doors again in mid-August as Rockaway Ocean Club, after an $88 million restoration. For the many Brooklyn families who spend summer weekends at Riis, the “People’s Beach” now comes with restaurants, a courtyard with live music and a members-only pool. The beach itself stays public and free, as always.

More than half the building is public: Two restaurants, one Peruvian, one...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 6th September 2026

Free kid-friendly events this week in Brooklyn (9/7-9/13)

It is back-to-school week for Brooklyn families and the weekend is looking busy: a free dance class for toddlers at City Point, BRIC’s back-to-school family day, the African Film Festival on Governors Island, and our own Back to School Party in Brooklyn Heights on Sunday. Plus, Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Friday, September 11, for all kid-friendly Jewish High Holiday events, click here.
All WEEK
Daily through Sunday, September 13 | 11am-7pm, with a 3-4pm cleaning break | Olympic- and inte...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 6th September 2026

The Week in Brooklyn: August 31 – September 6, 2026

Brooklyn’s biggest stories of the week: The City banned AI for students through eighth grade, and announced it in Brooklyn; $43 million moved to keep 3-K and pre-K programs open; Carnival weekend filled the Brooklyn Museum grounds; the protected bike corridor from Sunset Park to DUMBO was finally finished; Landmarks approved 61 apartments inside the Hotel Bossert; a taqueria and coffee shop opened in Bed-Stuy; and the jellyfish arrived at the Rockaways. Read on for the latest!

Mayor Zohran Mamd...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 5th September 2026

Art of Manga Comes to the Brooklyn Museum: What Families Need to Know

Brooklyn is about to become the manga capital of the East Coast. Art of Manga, the first major exhibition in the Americas to treat Japanese comics as the art form they are, opens at the Brooklyn Museum on October 3 and runs through January 31, 2027.
More than 600 original drawings fill the Great Hall on the first floor, including artwork from series your kids can likely name faster than you can — ONE PIECE, Inuyasha, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure — plus art prints from BLEACH and The Rose of Versaill...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 5th September 2026

New amenities for families in Brooklyn August ’26

August was a rather slow month in terms of new amenities for families in Brooklyn, however here are the new openings: A fourth Treasure Trunk Theatre studio in the South Slope, a free equipment-lending activity center on Governors Island, a full-size Lidl on Grand Street in Williamsburg, a brand-new Pilates studio in Bay Ridge, and — one bridge away — the Rockaways’ landmark Riis Park bathhouse, reborn as a beach club. Further out: the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music opens a second Park Slope loc...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 3rd September 2026

Things for tweens & teens to do September ’26

Tweens and teens have a full calendar this September: the city’s outdoor pools stay open for one more week, a brass-band festival at Industry City and a free all-ages Americana festival under the Manhattan Bridge in Dumbo, Charli xcx and Phoebe Bridgers at Barclays Center, a herd of life-size buffalo puppets roaming Downtown Brooklyn, the Liberty’s last regular-season home games, the Brooklyn Brujeria Festival, the Brooklyn Book Festival, Sneaker Con back in Coney Island and the Atlantic Antic t...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents • 2nd September 2026

Top 10 September family events in Brooklyn 2026

September is the month Brooklyn takes to the streets. It opens with our own car-free back-to-school party on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights and closes with the Atlantic Antic in Boerum Hill, the borough’s biggest street festival. In between, families can look forward to a $2-slice pizza party under the Dumbo Archway, the last Movies With A View of the summer at Pier 1, a herd of life-size buffalo puppets marching from Borough Hall to Brooklyn Bridge Park, a Bus Festival and a Touch A Truck,...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family • 31st August 2026

New restaurants, bars, bakeries, cafes and supermarkets that opened & closed in our neighborhoods in August ’26 | Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family Services

Brooklyn’s food scene never really pauses. August opened with Apapachó, a Mexican restaurant on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope; Lucky Creamery’s Asian-inspired scoops in Greenpoint; Liba, a kosher Mediterranean dining room at The William Vale in Williamsburg; and Frenzie, a sourdough pizza and wine bar on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights. The month ended just as busily: Lidl opened its fifth Brooklyn supermarket in Williamsburg and Thai favorite Ugly Baby returned to Williamsburg.
Apapachó opened...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family • 31st August 2026

Free kid-friendly events this week in Brooklyn (8/31-9/7) | Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family Services

It is the last full week before school, and Carnival weekend on top of it! Families can check out the Junior Carnival costume parade in Crown Heights, Islands in the Park with Smorgasburg and a steel pan band in Prospect Park, three nights of free Trolls films on the lawns in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Sunset Park, back-to-school chalk runs in Canarsie and Marine Park, outdoor storytimes in Fort Greene Park and Cadman Plaza, and more!
One service note before you plan: the Brooklyn Children’s M...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family • 30th August 2026

The Week in Brooklyn: August 24–30, 2026 | Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family Services

Brooklyn’s biggest stories of the week: The BQE is getting a $4 billion, 10-year rebuild, three Brighton Beach teenagers died in a crash on the Belt Parkway; Spike Lee brought his Michael Jackson block party back to Fort Greene Park; more than a thousand 3-K and pre-K programs headed into September without their city money; the mayor broke ground on a $36 million rebuild of the Eastern Parkway Library; Landmarks votes Tuesday on 61 apartments inside the Hotel Bossert; a Carroll Gardens coffee sh...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family • 28th August 2026

Brooklyn summer camps still running until school starts | Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family Services

Brooklyn public schools go back on Thursday, September 10, 2026, and Labor Day falls on Monday, September 7. That leaves a full camp week from Monday, August 31 to Friday, September 4, and two loose days on Tuesday, September 8 and Wednesday, September 9.
These are the camps from our Summer Camp Guide 2026 that are still running in that window. Dates, hours and prices below were checked against each camp’s own registration page. Several are in their final week of the season, and a few are alread...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family • 23rd August 2026

The Week in Brooklyn: August 17–23, 2026 | Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family Services

Brooklyn’s biggest stories of the week: The Battle of Brooklyn turned 250 on the Long Meadow; NYC Ferry discounts opened to middle schoolers; a 17-year-old was killed in East New York; City Hall sued the Council over paraprofessional bonuses; a Park Slope lottery opened 63 below-market apartments and an Egyptian restaurant opened in Bay Ridge. Read on for the latest!
The Prospect Park Alliance, the Old Stone House and the Brigade of the American Revolution marked the 250th anniversary of the lar...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family • 15th August 2026

The Week in Brooklyn: August 10–16, 2026 | Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family Services

Brooklyn’s biggest stories of last week: The New York Transit Museum and MTA have announced the 2026 Bus Festival for September, thousands of free Broadway tickets went up for high schoolers with a Monday deadline; Cardi B filmed a music video in Sunset Park; the Council made outdoor dining year-round and Brooklyn asking rents climbed again while family-sized apartments got scarcer. Read on for the latest!

The city announced Thursday that it will cover the weekly co-pay that about 22,000 low-in...

Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family • 13th August 2026

Fall sports sign-ups are open in Brooklyn: soccer, tennis, flag football, swimming, dance and gymnastics | Brooklyn Bridge Parents - News, Events and Family Services

Fall registration is open across Brooklyn, and for several programs it closes sooner than parents expect. Our Brooklyn 101 guides to soccer, tennis, flag football, swimming, dance and ballet, and gymnastics have all been updated for the fall season. Each one lists programs by neighborhood, with ages, costs, session dates, contact details and a direct sign-up link, so you can compare what is near you before you commit.

Our soccer guide runs to more than 30 programs, from toddler classes to trave...