Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club

Street / Art Gowanus walking tour: Women's March Theme
2025-03-01 11:30 - 13:15 (America/New_York) | NY
Rich Garr leads this comfortable open-air exploration through the Gowanus waterfront. He is a longtime area collage artist focusing on public art and community. These walks respond to both current events and history, and a central component of his interdisciplinary collage art practice. These monthly public walking tours focus on art in and about the streets, with histories layered into the experience. They’re carefully planned, but unscripted and collaborative. Always fresh. Check @GothamSideWalks on Instagram for monthly themes- now announced in advance. Feel free to propose themes there, too!
Tickets for these monthly Brooklyn walks often sell out. So try early. They cannot be purchased after 8am on the morning of the walk.
Guild, Captain Eyeliner, RaeBK, Billy Barnacles and other street art is often featured. So are historical landmarks (you all know about the Battle of Brooklyn, right?), architectural gems, hidden art spaces, art by anonymous “green guerillas,” and renowned graffiti writers. While old pollution lingers, so do new issues surrounding gentrification and re-zoning. The area is changing rapidly, and this tour offers real-time information & insight. Walks pass historic businesses, hip new bars & cafes, and quirky art & recreational spaces (i.e. shuffleboard, climbing and ax throwing)… with plenty to taste and see before or after. Walks have been attended by a mix of tourists and locals alike for over a decade!

MUCKING THINGS UP: Cody Herrmann
2025-02-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
MUCKING THINGS UP: Cody Herrmann
an intertidal talk with the Gowanus Dredgers

Feb 20, 2025 7 pm
Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse
165 2nd Street, Brooklyn
Free

Join the Gowanus Dredgers for a talk in our new Mucking Things Up series launching this year! We’re hosting a series of informal talks focused more on storytelling than slideshows. Cody Herrmann will share her experiences working with Billion Oyster Project, Guardians of Flushing Bay, and other projects. Come learn about our harbor habitat!

Support from Citizens Committee for New York City.

Boathouse Jam - Winter Edition
2025-02-19 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-02-12 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-02-05 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-01-29 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-01-22 18:00 - 20:30, 2024-12-18 18:00 - 20:30, 2024-12-11 18:00 - 20:30, 2024-12-04 18:00 - 20:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Wednesdays As Scheduled 6:00 – 8:30 PM
The Boathouse Jam is hosted by the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club to activate our shoreline while fostering the continued resurgence of acoustical collaborations in Brooklyn. We are inclusive of all – young & old, new & seasoned musicians. Just bring a smile and your musical instrument and/or your voice to join our one night makeshift band.
Free but a $5 suggested donation is encouraged, limited beverages are provided.
The Boathouse is located at 165 2nd Street, Brooklyn NY between Bond Street and the Gowanus Canal. We gather inside the Boathouse for these Winter Jam sessions. The temperature in the winter is usually in the mid 60’s, we recommend dressing in comfortable layers. Keep an eye on our calendar, as we may extend as interest allows.

TAGA Bus and Scientist Meet + Greet
2025-02-10 18:00 - 20:00 | Evalyn’s Tap House, 236 Butler St., Brooklyn, NY
Monday, Februrary 10, 6-8pm: Get a behind-the-scenes peek inside the “science lab on a bus” that’s helping keep an eye on what’s in the air in Gowanus! EPA scientists, educators, and other community members will be on hand to answer questions about the ongoing cleanup of the Gowanus Canal, how the EPA is helping monitor the neighborhood for air quality issues during construction, and what you can do to stay safe and informed. The Trace Atmospheric Gas Analyzer (TAGA) bus will be located at BUTLER & NEVINS ST, with community conversations held at Evalyn’s Tap House (236 Butler) from 6-8pm.

Street / Art Gowanus walking tour: Beatles Theme
2025-02-09 11:30 - 13:15 | NY

General Annual Meeting
2025-01-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
The public is welcome to attend The Gowanus Dredgers annual meeting at the Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse (165 2nd st.) to discuss activities, ideas and goals for the upcoming season on the Gowanus, Red Hook, Long Island City and Staten Island. Activity Committees will deliver program reports and announce agenda and goals for this year. Bring your ideas and willingness to get involved on the Gowanus or other shorelines as we work to reconnect everyone with our NY-NJ Estuary.

Agenda:

Sign-in & setup
Introductions and 2024 season recap
Financial update / 2024 Season fundraising goals
KSI, RHB, and LICCB Updates
Other Goals / Feedback for 2025 (open group discussion)
Close of meeting

MUCKING THINGS UP: Noah Chesnin & Tanasia Swift
2025-01-27 19:00 - 20:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
MUCKING THINGS UP: Noah Chesnin & Tanasia Swift

an intertidal talk with the Gowanus Dredgers

January 27, 2025
7 pm
Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse
165 2nd Street, Brooklyn
Free

Join the Gowanus Dredgers for the first talk in our new Mucking Things Up series launching this year! We’re hosting a series of informal talks focused more on storytelling than slideshows. Come learn about our harbor habitat.

We’ll be hearing from the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Noah Chesnin about the little-known Hudson Canyon, a giant underwater landform out in the ocean in the coastal shelf off New York. There’s a movement afoot to designate it a national marine sanctuary, and we’ll learn why it’s so special – from the marine species (including some Gowanus creatures) that need it for habitat to the chemosynthetic undersea vents awaiting further exploration in the Canyon. Learn about an upcoming series of dives into the Canyon coming up this summer.

Our second speaker is someone who’s known around New York Harbor for her work with the Billion Oyster Project, Tanasia Swift. A diver who knows a thing or two about many unusual nooks and crannies around the estuary, Tanasia will let us know more about the organisms and ecosystems that we might not notice in our day-to-day interactions with the waters we encounter.

Support from Citizens Committee for New York City.

Inner and Outer Transformations: The Climate Crisis By Olive Toran
2024-12-15 14:00 - 18:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
“Inner and Outer Transformations: The Climate Crisis,” by Olive Toran, is an immersive multimedia exhibition that weaves fine art photography, poetry, live music, and community climate engagement activities into a cohesive experience. At its core is Olive’s journey, reflecting the synergy between personal healing and climate action. Invoking spiritual solutions through poetry, song, and music—expressions rooted in her healing journey—Olive illustrates how inner transformation can inspire outer change. This ongoing dialogue between self and environment suggests that nurturing personal well-being can spark systemic transformation. Exploring the multimedia displays invites visitors to reconnect with nature, foster resilience against eco-paralysis, and deepen their commitment to environmental and social change.
RSVP HERE [free]
Sunday, December 15th, 2:00 pm-6:00 pm
2-5pm Exhibit viewing and climate adaptation activity,
5 – 6pm live music and Q&A

Olive is a force on the front line of climate action, leveraging her 12 years of expertise as a Communication Specialist and Climate Adaptation researcher having worked in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean, to drive meaningful change. Olive has dedicated herself to addressing the urgent challenges posed by human-induced climate change by crafting compelling narratives that amplify the urgency of the climate crisis and calling for collective knowledge and action to foster context specific, people centered climate solutions.
https://www.olivetoran.com/

Street / Art Gowanus walking tour
2024-12-14 14:00 - 15:30 | NY
Local artist Rich Garr leads this exploration through the Gowanus waterfront. He is a longtime area artist focusing on public art and community. This walking tour is a multi-sensory collage featuring art, and responding to the area’s renowned history and current events. December’s theme is GIFT. We’ll have unique shopping opportunities, but it’s more than that!
Swoon, Mast, Guild, Wolf Tits and other funky street artists are typically featured. So are historical landmarks, architectural gems, hidden art spaces, and the work of anonymous “green guerillas” and graffiti writers. While old pollution lingers, so do new issues surrounding gentrification and re-zoning. The area is changing rapidly, and this tour features real-time information and insight. This route changes by the month, but always passes quirky art and recreational spaces (climbing, shuffleboard, ax throwing, etc.). Local artists and businesses are always highlighted- classic pillars and young innovators alike.
We walk after quick introductions at 2:00. The walk is between 1.5 – 2 hrs. Check address location to find where the tour starts (route always changes!).
Tickets often sell out, and cannot be purchased after 8am on the morning of the walk… so try early!

25th Anniversary & End-of-Season Celebration
2024-12-07 14:00 - 18:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Join us as we mark a quarter-century of dedication to the Gowanus Canal with an unforgettable 25th Anniversary Party! This special event will be a lively celebration of our shared history and a look ahead to the next 25 years of advocacy, community, and care.
Bring the whole family—there will be fun games and activities for all ages! The festivities will feature live music and light fare (kindly donated by local favorite Runner and Stone). A highlight of the day will be our fundraising Make-a-Paper-Boat Race, where you can put your creativity to the test while supporting the Gowanus Dredgers’ mission of water access, education and advocacy.
The event takes place on Saturday December 7th at our 2nd Street boathouse. All are welcome!
Let’s come together to celebrate how far we’ve come and envision an even brighter future for the Gowanus Canal. We can’t wait to see you there! [RSVP here! Not required, but helps us plan for head count.]

Jos Prol: ARRIVALS
2024-11-30 13:00 - 17:00, 2024-11-23 13:00 - 17:00, 2024-11-16 13:00 - 17:00, 2024-11-09 13:00 - 20:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
The Gowanus Dredgers are proud to present “ARRIVALS” by Joshua Prol.
Jos Prol was born in the Garden State, fifteen miles west of the Hudson River.
Since early childhood he explored pockets of nature nestled in urban sprawl and paddled on waterways of the New York Metropolitan area like the Passaic, Raritan and Bronx Rivers. This fascination continued when he moved to New York in 2009 and ultimately led him to the home he found as a member of the Gowanus Dredgers.
Interests in mathematics, artistic expression and construction led him through an education in architecture and a career in structural engineering. Technical experience with the built environment, deep interest in the rhythms of nature and unique location in a place where all meet in a dramatic way has inspired his new work.
He explores the relationship of things comprehensively ordered by human hand with bodies guided by forces beyond human control. He looks for patterns of order that may exist in fields that initially present themselves as chaos. He wonders whether a human individual has more similarities with a piece of driftwood that floats into the Gowanus Canal than we might think.
Jos Prol: ARRIVALS
Reception: November 9 (5-8pm)
Open 1-5 PM Saturdays in November [9, 16, 23, 30] or by appointment

BEHEMOTH - Poetry Night
2024-11-25 19:00 - 20:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Join Gowanus poet Brad Vogel and friends at the Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse at 165 2nd Street, Brooklyn, for BEHEMOTH, a poetry reading after dark wrapped in the coils of Leviathan, a giant driftwood sculptural installation by artist Jos Prol (both leviathan and behemoth are primordial monsters mentioned in the ancient Book of Job). We’ll meditate on unstoppable fell forces, vaguely defined powers that impact our lives, and things monstrous, seemingly undeniable.
Poets include:
Darius Phelps
Reuben Gelley Newman
Benjamin Heim Shepard
DL Newton
Brad Vogel

Harmony 3: Sequoia Trio
2024-11-23 17:00 - 18:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Harmony 3 is an NYC-based trio of dynamic musicians bringing a contemporary perspective to the classic ensemble of oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. Join them for a ‘mini’ concert, where they’ll perform music including Jenni Brandon’s Sequoia Trio, inside the large “Leviathan” artwork by Jos Prol.
Saturday November 23rd, 30 minute performances at 5pm and 6pm
Harmony 3 is Katelyn Simone (oboe), Ella Avni-Levi (clarinet), and Melissa Kritzer (bassoon).
Each movement of The Sequoia Trio (oboe, clarinet, bassoon sheet music) takes a quote about Sequoia trees from John Muir’s book The Yosemite and uses it to inspire the music. The opening waving pattern creates the gentle breeze as the growth of the tree starts in the bassoon, moving through the clarinet and is carried all the way to the top of the tree through the oboe. Movement two is sassy and jazzy, describing the kind of resilient attitude that young trees must maintain in order to survive. “The Three Graces” plays on the idea of the three instruments in the ensemble and Muir’s own reference to Greek mythology. Finally in “The Noble Trees” the instruments play a hymn-like tribute to the largest living things on earth. The two “Tree Interludes” represent the individual voice of a tree and its story.

Comedy at the Boathouse
2024-11-22 20:00 - 22:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
The only comedy show in a Brooklyn boathouse. Hosted by Chase Shanahan.

Come check out a new stand up comedy show at the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse.
This show is guaranteed to have the best comedians in NYC, from touring professionals to curated local up-and-comers.

Lineup TBA
Doors at 7:30
Show at 8ish
Free – BYOB – Wheelchair Accessible – A great time all together
Follow @shahanagans on Instagram for more information.

Argentinian Folk EP Listening party with LULITA
2024-11-21 19:00 - 21:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
LULITA is singer and artistic director born and raised in Brooklyn, NYC. She pulls from her Argentine and Israeli roots to inspire her music and art, always finding ways to fuse her cultures and unexpected sounds together. After graduating LaGuardia High School as a vocal major, she pursued and obtained a degree in International Affairs and Global History from Lafayette College. After a year and a half of working closely with politicians and lawyers as a community organizer of housing rights in South Williamsburg, deliberating whether to follow her passion of public law or music, she ultimately decided to make the move to Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Argentina, she studied tango and folklore, constantly finding underground traditional Argentine music collectives and improvising at last minute live jam sessions throughout the city. After a year and a half abroad, she completed recording an entire Argentine folklore EP and artistically directed and produced a live show in one of Buenos Aire’s most famous underground tango halls, La Catedral. She has now returned to Brooklyn to release and debut her first ever EP and attempt to introduce today’s NYC to the beauty and melancholy sounds of Argentine folclore.
Join LULITA for a listening party for her upcoming Argentinian Folk EP. Light snacks and drinks will be served, and the EP listening will be followed by a short live performance.

Bunker Work Day
2024-11-17 10:00 - 17:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Bunker (19th St.), 2 19th St., Brooklyn, NY
Help us close down the Bunker for the season. We’ll be doing some light construction work and building out a new canoe rack, come ready to get dusty and dirty and have some fun.

November Monthly Meeting
2024-11-12 18:30 - 20:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Socialize with the Dredgers at our BOATHOUSE (165 2nd St.) to discuss the latest updates on Gowanus and get involved. We continue to plan new and fun events on our shoreline and waterway.
MONTHLY MEETING
Wednesday, November 12th 6:30 PM
165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY 11231 [THE BOATHOUSE]
We’ve made the switch from meeting at the Bunker to the Boathouse! Come to the boathouse to get an update about our recent mussel survey and help us plan for our upcoming 25th Anniversary party.

Brooklyn Folk Festival: Banjo Toss Competition
2024-11-10 13:00 - 14:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Each year, as part of the Brooklyn Folk Festival , contestants gather on the banks of the fetid Gowanus Canal to see who can throw a banjo the farthest in the – BANJO TOSS: BANJO THROWING COMPETITION! The special “throwing banjo”, attached to a rope is tossed into the canal, a federally designate Super Fund site. The marked rope pays out, showing how far the banjo has been tossed. It is then hauled back in for the next throw.
The Brooklyn Folk Festival is presented each year by the Jalopy Theatre & School of Music, a grassroots Red Hook, Brooklyn community space that is a music venue, music school, and record label. We are excited to support the Banjo Toss event activity so please stop by and join the fun!
We are told the best preparation for this competition is to attend a show at the Brooklyn Folk Festival so purchase tickets now before they are sold out. While bearded men and women are growing in popularity as more people live, work and play in our Gowanus neighborhood, we are assured by the organizers that beards are optional. Our amazing collection of competitors reinforces the Dredgers theme of inclusion so stop by to cheer our competitors or compete in the toss as well!

Canoe Painting By Local Artists
2024-11-02 10:00 - 15:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Join the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club as we give a few of our old canoes a makeover with the help of some amazing local artists!
David Barthold, Tom Fruin, Jos Prol, Bonnie Ralston, and Adam Suerte will enliven the canoes with vibrant new designs!
Stop by on October 26th and November 2nd to see how they reinvigorate our rides with artwork!
Saturday, Oct 26: Tom Fruin, Jos Prol, Adam Suerte
Saturday, Nov. 2: David Barthold, Bonnie Ralston
10am–3pm

The Boathouse Jam
2024-10-30 18:00 - 20:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Wednesdays April 3 through October 30th, 2024 6:00 – 8:30 PM
The Boathouse Jam is hosted by the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club to activate our shoreline while fostering the continued resurgence of acoustical collaborations in Brooklyn. We are inclusive of all – young & old, new & seasoned musicians. Just bring a smile and your musical instrument and/or your voice to join our one night makeshift band.
Christian Apuzzo leads most sessions. He is a Brooklyn-based vocalist, guitarist, and music educator. Long Island-raised, this musician started his journey as a certified public school music teacher but has since found the wide-open pastures of the freelance music world in NYC. Playing mostly folk, bluegrass, and country music, Christian plays with numerous groups all over our five boroughs including bluegrass group Cole Quest and the City Pickers and local supergroup the Grass Messengers. He also teaches music lessons and classes for all ages at Jalopy Theatre in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Free but a $5 suggested donation is encouraged, limited beverages are provided.
The Boathouse is located at 165 2nd Street, Brooklyn NY between Bond Street and the Gowanus Canal. Sessions are rain or shine, we gather outside the Boathouse unless it’s cold or raining then we move inside.
