Travel to Holland Without Leaving NYC
If the folks behind Colonial Williamsburg (the attraction), your neighborhood renaissance festival, modern-day Holland, and MoMa all got together to plan a two-week event on a somewhat-mysterious, surprisingly large island just off the southern coast of Manhattan, it might look something like the New Island Festival, running from September 10-20 on Governors Island. The event—no, the adventure—combines modern-day Dutch culture (Heineken and clubbing), communal, no-frills meals (around a huge wooden table with 400 strangers), an enormous variety of performances, and an “archaeological dig” (art installation), among others. Daily “passports” are available for $35, and include access to most of the events and concerts (meals, beer, and some high-profile shows cost extra). Unless you’re planning on spending a full day on the Island, which may be a little overwhelming, it may make more sense to buy tickets to individual shows and events, which range in price from $15 (LAN, a concert of sorts with views of the Statue of Liberty) to $30 (Orfeo: Performance and Dinner), rather than going all out on a Passport. The 5-minute ferry to the island runs every few minutes from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, with Water Taxi service available to other points along the Hudson and East Rivers.
