
As Saturday Night Liveโs former city correspondent Stefon would say, Prospect Park โhas everything.โ Since 1867, its 500-something acres have served as Brooklynโs collective backyard, bringing together five different neighborhoods and their inhabitants. On any given weekend, it would not be unusual to find a quinceaรฑera photo shoot taking place next to a game of ultimate frisbee, or a woman on horseback trotting by a drum circle. This collision of activities was only made more extreme by the pandemic. The park is no longer just Brooklynโs backyard but also its living room and dining room, plus its newest gym and hottest nightclub. Itโs where birthdays and major life events like weddings and baby showers have migrated.
New Yorkers have figured out how to make the most of their picnic-blanket sized real estate, buying luxurious furniture, designer coolers, and even camping lanterns to keep the fun going well into the night. More importantly, though, the park has given New Yorkers the space to figure out how to coexist (safely) together in this new reality.
We visited on October 17 and 18, the last weekend of the year it was expected to stay above 70 degrees. Not that the weatherโs stopping anyone. โIf itโs 50 degrees and sunny, Iโm still coming out,โ said one diehard picnicker while sipping a Trader Joeโs spiked seltzer. โWhatโs the alternative? Sitting at home and not seeing anyone?โ
Saturday, 12:30 p.m.: A Wedding on the Long Meadow
โWe met at Pratt, and we live really close, so we come here all the time. Weโve seen other people have their ceremonies here, and it looked really nice. We didnโt want to wait to get married until the pandemic was over, because who knows when that will be? We found a wedding officiant online. We used this app, itโs basically like TaskRabbit, but itโs called Thumbtack. Heโs a reverend and heโs been doing a lot of Zoom weddings. He drove all the way from the Bronx. When he made the pronouncement at the end, a lot of people sitting in the grass nearby clapped. It was really sweet.โ โMing Chang
Saturday, 12:45 p.m.: A 6th Birthday Party on the Long Meadow
Saturday, 5 p.m.: A โStoop Saleโ Off the East Drive Bike Path
โMy friend Aspen and I are moving, so we wanted to sell stuff. And then more friends came with their stuff.โ โClarissa Liu
Sunday, 1 p.m.: A Casual Hang Near the Picnic House
โYou must think Iโm a fraud because no oneโs here yet, but there are probably around eight people who are going to show up. Iโve been texting them for the last hour, but as Stephen, my roommate, said, people always show up about an hour, two-and-a-half-hours late to these sorts of things. I do Google Cal invites. Facebookโs over. [Ed. note: About 10-12 people did eventually did show up.] We come here every week. One week it was too warm, so we went to the beach. And before that we were just going to the beach every weekend. I was very anti-park for a long time. I was like, Why would you go to the park when you could go to the beach? But then when it became too cold to go to the beach, I was like, Alright, I guess weโll go to the park. I saw people sitting on these chairs, so I was like, Well, I guess this is what weโre going to do now. We gotta make this fun. Itโs been a real social scene. There are these very enterprising ladies who come around and sell frozen drinks in pouches. Theyโre better than nutcrackers โ these guys are like, bespoke or something. Theyโre very good. Iโm drinking a Trader Joeโs brand hard seltzer at the moment.โ - Nicholas Feitel
Saturday, 1:45 p.m.: A Birthday Party by the Bandshell
Sunday, 2 p.m.: A Weekly Cookout by the Bandshell
โIโve got some merguez sausages going and some kefta, which is normally in a kebab, plus some vegetarian options as well. Iโve been doing this once a week the whole summer, just so people can hang out outside. I barely knew how to do this in the beginning. The first time I tried to light it up, it didnโt work, and my boss was here. It was really embarrassing. I ran out of matches. It was a whole thing. But at this point, it seems to be doing what it has to do, which is good.โ - Jen Roberton
Saturday, 3 p.m.: A Quinceaรฑera Photo Shoot by Prospect Park Lake
โI already had my party in March, one week before everything shut down, but we had to wait a while to do the photo shoot because of the coronavirus thing. This is the first time Iโve really been dressed up since then. It feels a little weird getting compliments, but itโs okay.โ - Valeria Flores
Saturday, 2:40 p.m.: An Art Class in the Nethermead
โThe week before last we had about 10 kids in the class, but now itโs starting to get a little cooler. Usually, I say I teach โclassical art,โ because we do rendering from life, but this time I wanted them to really reach inside and not just describe what theyโre seeing, but to give it meaning. I said if you look at the grass and the difference between when the sun is on it and when itโs covered in shade, we can use that as a metaphor for the weather that weโre feeling inside. I think itโs a good exercise for right now.โ - Sharon Wybrants
Sunday, 2 p.m.: A Surprise โGlam Picnicโ by the Baseball Fields
โItโs Lolaโs golden birthday, so the picnic is gold themed. Your golden birthday is when your age matches the day. She turned 17 on October 17th. Iโve been planning this for like two weeks. It was a surprise. Sheโs my best friend. Weโve been picnicking a lot, so thatโs where I got the idea, but I was like, letโs do a glam picnic. I looked up โglam picnicsโ on Pinterest and saw the pillows and all fabrics. And I got the toothpicks with pearls on them at the dollar store.โ - Thomas Jimenez, senior at Fort Hamilton High Schoolย
Sunday, 1:30 p.m.: A Date by the Baseball Fields
โThis is the first time weโve been in the park together. We were talking about going to Governorโs Island next.โ - Adam Teckie
Sunday, 3:45 p.m.: Friends Dancing on the Long Meadow
โWe all just moved here. Iโm from Virginia, Chani is from California, and heโs from Australia. We were biking here from Crown Heights and we were like, โWow, we are so lucky.โ I mean look at this! Literally look around us. Thereโs nowhere in the world where there are so many people who are loving each other from afar and breathing in the same air! Ah!โ - Hindy Deitsch
Sunday, 2:30 p.m.: A Nap by Prospect Park Lake
โI just got these hammocks a few weeks ago. I came here last weekend by myself, and today I wanted to see if I could do two hammocks instead of one. I didnโt think it was going to be quite this perfect. I live in Williamsburg, and I like Domino park, but you donโt get this. The bridges and the river are beautiful, but I mean, this lakeโฆ I could take a nap and wake up and forget that Iโm even in Brooklyn. Not that Iโd want to, necessarily. But itโs a slice of heaven. Iโm sure Iโll come here next weekend and find people in this exact spot.โ โSteve Ruvolo
Sunday, 4 p.m.: En Plein Air on the Long Meadow
โI got into Brown, and Iโm a freshman, but freshmen arenโt allowed on campus yet. I was really looking forward to it, but Iโm also grateful to have been able to choose to spend my time the way I have. I donโt often paint people here, but itโs cool to see how many are here just chilling. Thereโs so much chaos, itโs nice to see something like this. In terms of the greenery and the flora, itโs a nice break from being at home and from technology and social media. Sometimes it feels like the other side of the world.โ - Onaje Grant-Simmonds
Sunday, 4 p.m.: A โFight Clubโ Meetup on the Long Meadow
โI started doing this around March or April, when gyms closed. Me and my brother came and we were just playing around with the pads and people started to come up. We call ourselves the Prospect Fight Club. The PFC. We have a WhatsApp group called that. Weโve been doing it every week now since other people started to join. Weโre motivating each other. I think everyoneโs in higher spirits after taking out aggression on the pads. Now that itโs the fall, there are a lot more people in the park. When it was summertime and it was really hot, we had more space. Itโs funny being next to peopleโs picnics. Sometimes thereโs a salsa band. Iโm going to try to do this until itโs too cold to do it anymore. Iโve learned to work out from home, so I donโt know how motivated I am to go back to a gym. This is free.โ โReggie Scott
Saturday, 6 p.m.: A Picnic With Neighbors on the Long Meadow
โWe all live in the same building โ the tall one with the tower right there. This was not a pre-Covid thing. But, you know what? Weโre going to come as much into the winter as we can, Iโll tell ya. We like to sit on top of the rise so we can see all of the activity! Doug and I brought the table, Andrea and Seth brought the tablecloth, and we all brought our own chairs and food, wine, and beer. Our collective menu consisted of lentil and quinoa pilaf, salad, turkey/gouda/avocado sandwiches, chicken tikka with potatoes and cauliflower, and chocolate.โ - Leslie Gallager
Saturday, 6:22 p.m.: A Lively Birthday Party on the Long Meadow
โItโs my 29th birthday. I just wanted to find a way to celebrate without putting people at risk. Weโre just trying to make the best of it, especially knowing that in the winter itโs going to get worse. This might be the last hurrah before we all hibernate.โ โ Susana Rivera
*This article appears in the October 26, 2020, issue ofย New Yorkย Magazine.ย Subscribe Now!