Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club

Gowanus Jug & String Band Sessions
2025-10-16 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-10-09 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-10-02 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-09-25 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-09-18 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-09-11 18:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Thursday evenings starting May 1st, 6-8:30 at the Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse 165 2nd Street between Bond and the Gowanus Canal. We are excited to expand our musical offerings with this new weekly jam.
Jam Leader: Papa Ernie Vega
Dredger Host: Liz Rabson Schnore
$5 Suggested Donation

What Jug band and String band music?

Let’s start with String band music. Black String band music, which will be our focus, was created by Southern Blacks and pre-dates the Blues & Jazz. Groups which consisted of mostly stringed instruments (guitar, banjo, bass, violin, mandolin, ukulele, etc) performed a wide variety of songs and styles for all manner of social functions and for personal enjoyment; two-steps, waltzes and breakdowns for dances, ballads and love songs, humorous & novelty songs, as well as blues, jazz, and pop tunes as they came into fashion. This genre, sadly, was under-represented by the burgeoning recording industry in the 1920’s and 30’s, which helped contribute to its already declining popularity in the wake of the success of the Blues and Jazz: though groups like the Mississippi Sheiks and the Dallas String Band did make great and popular recordings. The genre never completely died out, however, and is alive and well today thanks to the perseverance of its practitioners and the dedication of its fans, which has led to a rediscovery and a new appreciation by audiences young and old.
Jug band music developed in the early 20th century within Southern Black communities and was essentially a string band with a jug used as a “poor man’s tuba”, in the role of a bass instrument. Other household items as instruments were popular as well; washboard and/or spoons for percussion, washtub bass, and kazoo. These combined with the guitars, banjos, mandolins/violins of the traditional string band, along with the harmonica, made for a unique sound that won the hearts of the public in the early days of the recording industry. The Memphis Jug Band and Cannon’s Jug Stompers recorded well over a hundred examples of blues, ballads, pop and dance numbers – and they’re just the tip of the iceberg. The genre found new life in the Folk Music Revival of the 1960’s and remains popular to this day.
These sessions will be open to Intermediate and above players, and we encourage you to sing along and bring a song to lead. To lead a song, you will be expected to sing it loudly enough for those around you to hear, to know the key you will sing in, and to explain the chord changes and form of the song if need be. We may also discuss some ideas for performing in an ensemble to help everyone find their place in the music.

Papa Ernie Vega is a NYC singer, instrumentalist, bandleader, teacher, songwriter and performing/recording artist. He has over 20 years of professional experience and has performed at the Newport Folk Festival, the Jug Band Jubilee and the Osaka Jug Band Festival. He also taught and performed at the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival from 2016-2021. He is a lover of fine cheap food, old movies, humor, and photography.

The Boathouse Jam
2025-10-15 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-10-08 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-10-01 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-09-24 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-09-17 18:00 - 20:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Wednesdays April 2 through October 29th, 2025 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.

A Persistence of Cormorants Poetry Reading
2025-10-12 13:30 - 15:30, 2025-10-05 13:30 - 15:30, 2025-09-28 13:30 - 15:30, 2025-09-21 13:30 - 15:30, 2025-09-14 13:30 - 15:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
A Persistence of Cormorants is a summer-long poetry reading series on our shoreline featuring accomplished and exceptional poets from the New York area, many of who live in Brooklyn. On each of the scheduled Sundays, from 1:30 to 3:30, up to four featured poets will read for 10 to 15 minutes each.
Gerry reads poetry at the canal
The readings will be followed by open mic time limited to ten readers (one poem no longer than 3 minutes) who have signed up the day of the reading on a first come basis.
Reading will be outdoors at the Gowanus open shoreline and we invite you to engage with the emerging Gowanus Canal habitat as we witness the EPA conduct their SuperFUN/d cleanup program. Event may move to inside the boathouse if it begins to rain or we want to escape the summer heat. If other activity is occurring on the street or esplanade, event may move inside.
Participation is free but we encourage donations to sustain the efforts of the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, an advocacy stewardship organization who has been representing neighborhood interests for over two decades.
May4th: Gregory Crosby, Brad Vogel, Melinda Wilson, Anthony Cappo18th: Scott Hightower, Abigail Wellhouse, Kristina Andersson, Estha Weiner 25th: Michael Broder, James Diaz, Kristine Esser Stenz, Sarah Sari
June1st: Susan Cohen, Sarah Wallace, Jiwon Choi, Caroline Hagood 8th: Jo Solfren, Amy Lemmon, Sam Cha, TBA22nd: Bruce E. Whitacre, Gerry La Femina, Jordan Franklin, TBA29th: Ruth Danon, Miranda Beeson, Matt Coonan, Joanna Fuhrman
July13th: Mervyn Taylor, Pichchenda Bao, Carla Carlson, Sarah Arvio20th: Jennifer Micael Hecht, Amy Holman, Billy Cancel, Genevieve Farnsworth27th: Broadstone Books: Hilary Sideris, Myra Malkin, Meredith Trede, Amy Barone TBA
August3rd: Lynn Mcgee, Ashley Mabbit, Jennifer Franklin, Sarah Sarai 10th: Linda Lerner, David Francis, William Lesard, Mary Newell 17th: KGB Hosts: John Deming, Tyler Allan Penny, Susan Lewis, Selena Spier, Jada Gordon 24th: Michael Montlack, Jerome Ellison Murphy, Sarah Sala, David Formanek
September7th: Terence Degnan, Caitlin McDonnell, Nicole Callihan, Zoe Ryder White, Denver Butson14th: Tom Sleigh, Neil Shepard, Karen Neuberg, Dennis Nurkse 21st: Richard Levine, Wendy Sloan, Elaine Sexton, JoAnne MacFarland, Rachelle Parker28th: Austin Alexis, Karen Hildebrand, Lisa Badner, Lisa Andrews
October5th: Sean Singer, Arden Levine, Robin Rosen Chang, Lily Greenberg 13th: Broadstone Books: Ellen Devlin, Margo Stever, Susana H. Case, Mary Moloney, Macia Le Beau

FREE Walk-Up Paddling - 2nd St.
2025-10-12 10:00 - 13:00, 2025-09-28 15:00 - 18:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
FREE (donations encouraged) self-guided canoeing of the Gowanus Canal!
Participants utilize club canoes for a paddle at their own pace inside the protected Canal. Enjoy discovering the canal’s unique mix of wildlife and urban waterway infrastructure! After being fitted with a life jacket (which must be worn at all times) at the dock, we give instruction on how to paddle, safety tips on how to use a canoe and we help with boarding and supervise your departure. We ask for a donation contribution upon your return as funding to sustain our programs.
Self-guided voyages can be limited to 15-20 min. if there’s a crowd but otherwise, we expect you to return to the dock 15 min. prior to closing.
Weather (wind, waves or evidence of storm) may cancel programming with one hour advance notice. Meet at Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY 11231, wear sunscreen and bring a bottle filled with water. Close-toed shoes are recommended, and wear clothing you don’t mind potentially being splashed. All paddlers must sign a waiver, minors require guardian signature on site to authorize canoeing.

Desire Lines and Daylighting : work by photographer Nathan Kensinger
2025-10-11 13:00 - 17:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Desire Lines and Daylighting : work by photographer Nathan Kensinger
Saturday October 11, 1-5pm (Opening reception: 1pm to 3pm)
Saturday & Sunday October 18 & 19, 1-5pm (Gowanus open studios)
Saturday October 25, 1-5pm (Closing)
Curated by Pam Wong
Desire Lines and Daylighting is a new body of work by photographer Nathan Kensinger, looking at informal access points along three of the city’s larger waterways – the Flushing Creek, Harlem River, and Newtown Creek – and documenting work being done by community groups to open up public access along the waterfront. These photographs explore abandoned train lines and dead end streets, where local residents have created unique green spaces and shoreline pathways, and where future ideas are being developed to create more formalized parks and trails, and to dig up buried sections of these waterways, daylighting their hidden routes.
Although New York City has 520 miles of coastline and dozens of waterfront parks, for many New Yorkers, finding access to the nearest waterway is nearly impossible. Hundreds of thousands of residents in waterfront neighborhoods have been cut off from the coastline by train lines, highways, and industry. To get to the water, the best route is often an informal trail, blazed by neighborhood residents. Sometimes called desire lines, these unofficial pathways are hidden behind fences and on dead-end streets.

These photographs were created in 2024 and 2025, while Nathan was the Photo Urbanism Fellow at the Design Trust For Public Space. During his yearlong fellowship, he focused on issues of waterfront equity, and the work of local waterfront organizations, including the Guardians of Flushing Bay, Harlem River Coalition, Newtown Creek Alliance, NYC H2O, and South Bronx Unite. Nathan is an artist and journalist based in Brooklyn, who has created a series of photo essays, documentary films, public art projects, and video installations over the past 20 years, looking at New York City’s changing coastlines.Links:

Nathan’s Website: www.nathankensinger.com
Photo Urbanism Website: https://photourbanism.org/fellow/nathan-kensinger/

Full Moon Gowanus Voyage - October
2025-10-06 18:30 - 20:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Bunker (19th St.), 2 19th St., Brooklyn, NY
Join our Crew on a full-moon guided adventure!! Meet at the the Gowanus Dredgers Bunker, at the end of 19th St / off 3rd Ave, 11232 – NOT our 2nd St. boathouse. Tickets are required, get yours here.
Moonrise 6:09 | Sunset 6:29 | Civil End 6:57 | Nautical End 7:28
The stars should be on display along with harbor lights. We will provide lights for each canoe, you’re welcome to bring/wear your own head lamp as well. Each canoe will have up to 3 people. Solo paddlers are welcome, you will be paired with other members of the group based on experience and comfort in a canoe. Close-toed shoes are recommended, and wear clothing you don’t mind potentially being splashed. Use a restroom before arrival, as we have limited facilities on-site.
Due to EPA cleaning of the Gowanus Canal, voyage will head towards the 9th St bridge and return to Gowanus Bay and our new South Gowanus Bunker.
If raining or threatening weather (high winds, lightning) by 6:30pm we may cancel. Attendees will be notified via the email used to purchase tickets. Tour is not cancelled due to clouds but let’s hope for a clear sky for the moon rise!
Tickets are nonrefundable for any event that proceeds as planned. We will offer the option to transfer your ticket to another event if we have to cancel for weather. Transfer must be requested before the tour starts. If you choose not to transfer, the cost of your ticket becomes a tax-deductible donation to the Gowanus Dredgers.

Unheard-of + Gowanus Dredgers Present: Fire Ecologies Album Release Party
2025-09-27 18:00 - 21:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Bunker (19th St.), 2 19th St., Brooklyn, NY
Fire Ecologies Album Release Party
Date: September 27th, 2025, 6:30PM Music, 6PM Canoe Launch
Location: Gowanus Dredgers Bunker, 2 19th St, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Join Unheard-of Ensemble, the Dredgers, and Christopher Stark for our Fire Ecologies album release party. The ensemble performs the entire album live followed by an afterparty featuring food and drink from some of our favorite Brooklyn breweries and distilleries.
Fire Ecologies is an album length Chamber Music America commission from Rome Prize-winning composer Christopher Stark, exploring America’s changing landscapes in the face of climate change. The work incorporates field recordings of the 2020 California wildfires and sounds from Chris’s travel across Montana, Oregon, and California as well as parts of Colorado as well as explorations of nature from America’s heartland surrounding Missouri. The album will be released on New Focus Recordings and available in-person at the show.
🎟️ Free RSVP for land viewing, Paddle Tickets available here 🎟️
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This performance takes place on the Gowanus Canal, from the 19th St. Bunker location. The audience can immerse themselves in the experience on the Gowanus, enjoying the program from on land or on water. Limited boat access and on-water support are provided by The Gowanus Dredgers. Attendees may arrive in their own vessels, as well.
Weather may postpone event.
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This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Unheard-of’s performances are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

The Fall | Dan Noble & Robin Roi
2025-09-27 13:00 - 17:00, 2025-09-20 13:00 - 17:00, 2025-09-13 13:00 - 17:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
The Fall | Dan Noble & Robin Roi
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 6, 5-7pm
On view Saturdays, September, 6, 13, 20, 27, 1-5pm or by appointment
Curated by Pam Wong
Featuring paintings by Dan Noble and collage works by Robin Roi, The Fall contemplates human fragility and resilience.
Dan Noble’s recent paintings explore the profound and unsettling moment of falling, focusing on the human body in motion and the moment when the body succumbs to gravity. While the act of falling carries a sense of danger, the focus of this collection is not on the impact, but on the journey down—that brief, weightless instant when the mundane world dissolves and a person is suspended between solid ground and an uncertain future. The figures exist in a liminal space, an instance of pure, unchoreographed movement.
Noble’s paintings explore the moments when we are most vulnerable. But within that vulnerability, there is beauty and grace — the human spirit that, despite the fall, may eventually rise again.
Robin Roi’s works combine three of her loves – paper, pattern, and narrative. The Four Fiancés and Milagros are composed with Joss paper, a symbolic material traditionally burned as an offering during Buddhist and Taoist funerals or ceremonies honoring ancestors. “Milagros” or “miracles” are a form of Latin American folk art related to faith and healing. The small charms are typically placed on altars as offerings or symbols of devotion,
Representing formal wear and finery from another era, Roi’s pieces consider mortality, tradition, and hope.
https://www.robroidesign.com/
@robroidesign

FREE Walk-Up Paddling - 19th St.
2025-09-21 10:00 - 16:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Bunker (19th St.), 2 19th St., Brooklyn, NY
Walk-up is back at 19th St, thanks to our amazing Canoe Campers!!
Stop down and launch a canoe for a self-guided paddle from our floating docks at the Gowanus Dredgers Bunker Launch Site! Limited to the mouth of the Gowanus Canal to 9th Street and Free (donations encouraged). Please note, this activity is NOT at our 2nd St Boathouse.
Bring a friend and we’ll outfit you with equipment and give quick navigation instructions at the dock. Self-guided voyages can be limited to 15-20 min. if there’s a crowd but otherwise, we expect you to return to the dock 15 min. prior to closing. Upon request, we will provide gloves and bags so you may remove trash found along our estuary. We launch from the end of 19th St / off 3rd avenue and it is first come, first served.
Weather (wind, waves or evidence of storm) may cancel programming with one hour advance notice. Meet at the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club 19th St. Launch, 2 19 St, Brooklyn, (off of 3rd Ave.), wear sunscreen and bring a bottle filled with water. Close-toed shoes are recommended, and wear clothing you don’t mind potentially being splashed. Use a restroom before arrival, as we have limited facilities on-site. All paddlers must sign a waiver, minors require guardian signature on site to authorize canoeing.

9th Annual Gowanus Dawn Reading
2025-09-19 07:00 - 09:00 | NY
Our 9th annual Gowanus Dawn Reading!

We’ll proclaim poetry from Brad Vogel’s book “Find Me In the Feral Pockets” in canoes on the Gowanus Canal!

Readers: Arrive at 7:00AM for boat launch. Request spot as a canoe reader in advance: poetsafloatnyc[@]gmail.com. (Launch location TBD)

Audience: 7:45AM arrival to our reading location to hear via bridge and land. Location to be announced. Follow us on social media and/or sign up for our email list to get full details, we’ll update here when the locations are confirmed.

Dredgers Captain Emeritus Brad Vogel & performer Melody Bates lead the colorful crew.

Monthly Meeting + Paddle
2025-09-18 18:30 - 20:30 | NY
Socialize with the Dredgers at our BUNKER (2 19th St, off of 3rd Ave) for a casual volunteer orientation (sign-up here), member catch-up and paddle! We’ll gather at 6:30 to start the orientation and aim to be on-water around 7:15.
Meet at the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club 19th St. Launch, 2 19 St, Brooklyn, (off of 3rd Ave.). If you plan to join the paddle, wear sunscreen and bring a bottle filled with water. Close-toed shoes are recommended, and wear clothing you don’t mind potentially being splashed. Use a restroom before arrival, as we have limited facilities on-site. All paddlers must sign a waiver.
Weather (wind, waves or evidence of storm) may cancel the paddling portion with one hour advance notice. In case of inclement weather, meeting will be relocated follow us on Instagram or sign up for our mailing list to stay informed.

Ukulele Cabaret: Ukulele Harvest
2025-09-13 18:00 - 22:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Celebrating two decades of songs, costumes and shenanigans.

For twenty years the Ukulele Cabaret has provided a stage for musicians, artists and performers from New York’s underground ukulele scene!

Join us at:
Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse
165 2nd St, Brooklyn
https://ukulelecabaret.com/
Featuring: Alan Drogin and Steve Swartz,Amie Amis, Angus Loten, Anthony Rev Wills III, Carol Wierzbicki, Dana McCoy, Gio Gaynor, Jamie Scandal, Les Chauds Lapins, Lloyd United, Pete Sturman, Rush Kress, Saint and Sinners, Uke Goldberg, Uke Skywalker and Ukelinda hosted by Sonic Uke.

Ted and Jason of Sonic Uke started the cabaret in May 2005 in the back of Julius bar in West Village. After outgrowing our stage there we settled in for a residency at legendary East Village gastropub Jimmy’s 43, with cameos at Barbes, The Zipper Factory and Banjo Jim’s before moving to The Red Room at the KGB Bar — an East Village speakeasy that in 1914 was the headquarters of Emma Goldman’s Secret Society of anarchists.

FREE Walk-Up Paddling - 2nd St.
2025-09-13 15:00 - 18:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
*** PADDLING UPDATE ***
This weekend’s FREE public walk-up paddling is MOVED to Bush Terminal Piers Park in Sunset Park. Show your support for a new water access point in South Brooklyn and enjoy the gorgeous fall weather from a fleet of canoes, sit-on-top kayaks, stand-up paddleboards — or even a rowboat! No reservations required, stop by 11am to 3pm.

Where: Bush Terminal, enter at 50th or 43rd St., and find us on the shore near the public bathrooms. MAP
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FREE (donations encouraged) self-guided canoeing of the Gowanus Canal!
Participants utilize club canoes for a paddle at their own pace inside the protected Canal. Enjoy discovering the canal’s unique mix of wildlife and urban waterway infrastructure! After being fitted with a life jacket (which must be worn at all times) at the dock, we give instruction on how to paddle, safety tips on how to use a canoe and we help with boarding and supervise your departure. We ask for a donation contribution upon your return as funding to sustain our programs.
Self-guided voyages can be limited to 15-20 min. if there’s a crowd but otherwise, we expect you to return to the dock 15 min. prior to closing.
Weather (wind, waves or evidence of storm) may cancel programming with one hour advance notice. Meet at Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY 11231, wear sunscreen and bring a bottle filled with water. Close-toed shoes are recommended, and wear clothing you don’t mind potentially being splashed. All paddlers must sign a waiver, minors require guardian signature on site to authorize canoeing.

Public Paddling Days at Bush Terminal Park
2025-09-13 11:00 - 15:00 | Bush Terminal Piers Park, Marginal St. &, 43rd St, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Demonstration Public Paddling Days at Bush Terminal Park
Saturday, July 19, 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Saturday, August 16, 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Saturday, September 13, 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Join us for three weekends of on-water fun at Bush Terminal Piers Park with free, walk-up paddling in Sunset Park.
We’re planning on having a mixed fleet of sit-on-top kayaks, canoes, and stand-up paddle boards — along with a wooden rowing dory, available for use on a first-come, first-served basis. Kayak Polo will have some demonstrations available in August and September! Check back for more updates from our partners.
The Gowanus Dredgers, NYC Watertrail Association, Red Hook Boaters, The Kayak Foundation, and New York Kayak Polo are presenting demonstration public paddling days at Bush Terminal Park (in Sunset Park, Brooklyn) to show the Parks Department and other stakeholders what’s possible this unique location is made into an official NYC kayak and canoe launch site, and to advocate for a community boathouse on site. Join us!
