As fall nips the air, Fort Greene Park Conservancy offers you a cornucopia of programs and fun activities for your enjoyment of the park.

From Artisan Market stalls along the DeKalb Avenue side of the park on Saturdays through October 4th, to October 25th's ninth annual free Halloween Festival, the spruce-up activities of IT'S MY PARK! DAY on October 25th-26th, and the stately November 15th Centennial Celebration of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument - you will have experiences that only Fort Greene Park can offer. It's a special refuge in our city, and we need your help to keep it that way.

One generous citizen of our community has offered the Fort Greene Park Conservancy a special Challenge Grant: In the period from now until November 15th, the date of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument rededication, every tax deductible dollar contributed to the Conservancy will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $5,000. The funds raised will go towards hiring a new Parks Manager for the park. Since our former Park Manager, Jeff Sandgrund, left this summer, the Parks Department has been having difficulty filling the position. The Parks Deparment has asked the Conservancy to help pay for a full time staff person and we have accepted the challenge. Make a donation now and it will be doubled and a Park Manager will be hired! The Conservancy is glad to work alongside with NYC Parks in this way...we are the mechanism which receives private funding on behalf of our city park.

So make a donation now and it will get doubled! You can make your check payable to: Fort Greene Park Conservancy, 85 S. Oxford Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217.

Or go to our website at fortgreenepark.org to make a credit card donation through PayPal.
All contributions are 100% tax-deductible.

See you in the park!

On Saturday, October 25, 2008, the Fort Greene Park Conservancy presents the ninth annual Halloween Festival in Brooklyn's historic Fort Greene Park. Hundreds of children will be treated to hay rides, games, sack races, face painting, music, dancing, and pumpkin decorating - and it's all FREE.

The event kicks off at 12 noon and runs until 3:30 PM on the park's Great Lawn at DeKalb Avenue and Washington Park. The festival opens with "The Great PUPkin," a wild costume contest for dogs and their owners co-sponsored by Fort Greene PUPS, a local dog-owners organization, and closes with a popular kid's costume contest and parade.

The festival is organized and produced by volunteer members of the Fort Greene Park Conservancy, a non-profit community-based organization founded in 1998. The Conservancy is dedicated to the restoration and upkeep of historic Fort Greene Park. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and speak with representatives of the Fort Greene Park Conservancy and learn about their many upcoming plans for the park, including upkeep, restoration, educational programs, and outreach initiatives.

Volunteers and supporters come from all over New York City to help us with the festival and other events. If you interested in volunteering to help with the Halloween Festival email Carol Anastasio, Director of Volunteers, Fort Greene Park. The phone is (718) 722-3218. For other inquiries email the Conservancy.

We wish to thank the sponsors of this free event, many of which will be featured at the festival. A complete list of this year's sponsors will be on the Conservancy website shortly.

By subway: B, D, M, N, R trains to Dekalb Avenue or C train to Lafayette Avenue. Enter the park at DeKalb Avenue and Washington Park/Cumberland Avenue. For a map with directions, click here.

This year's IT'S MY PARK DAY! events will occur on both Saturday October 25th and Sunday October 26th starting at 9:30 am.

On Saturday, volunteers can sign up to be on the Fort Greene Park Halloween Festival team, and on Sunday, October 26th, come help us clean up and prepare the park for the winter months. From 9:30am to 12:30pm a number of winterizing activities are planned. Projects are coordinated by the Fort Greene Park Conservancy.

Location: Meet at Fort Greene Park Visitor's Center up on the hill. We look forward to seeing you!

If you interested in volunteering to help with the Halloween Festival or IT'S MY PARK DAY! email Carol Anastasio, Director of Volunteers, Fort Greene Park. The phone is (718) 722-3218. For other park inquiries email the Conservancy.

In commemoration of the November 2008 Centennial Celebration of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument a fine art poster is now available from the Fort Greene Park Conservancy. This limited-edition Glicee print is a high quality reproduction of the wonderful cover artwork of the original 1908 Souvenir Journal created for President-Elect Taft's dedication of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park.

The poster is being offered for sale as a limited, numbered edition of 500 copies from the Conservancy. Sized to fit a standard 16 x 20 inch frame, the print is $75 unframed, or $150 framed in a black, one-inch frame.

All posters are accompanied with a Certificate of Authenticity from the Conservancy. Because the Fort Greene Park Conservancy is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, 60% of your cost can be deducted as a donation to the Conservancy and the Prison Ships Martyrs Monument's 2008. The proceeds will help fund the November 2008 commemorative events as well as to establish national and international constituencies to remind and educate people of the sacrifices made for us during the American Revolution. Proceeds may also be used in the restoration and maintenance of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument.

To purchase a poster (and make a donation in the process), email Ruth Goldstein or call 718- 596-0899.

For more information on the 2008 Centennial Celebration of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument go to the Centennial 2008 website.

The first Prison Ship Martyrs Monument Memorial Celebration took place in 1908 and featured then-President-elect Taft. To honor these martyrs who gave their lives to secure our freedom and ideals in our time, a grand Centennial Celebration will occur on the weekend of November 15th and 16th, 2008 - 100 years later.

The much-anticipated Prison Ship Martyrs Monument Centennial Celebration kicks off on Saturday November 15, 2008. Planned are numerous family-friendly events for the whole weekend including a Revolutionary War Re-enactor's encampment in Fort Greene Park. a parade of flags, the world premier performance of a choral piece composed for the event, and a keynote address by author and celebrated historian, David McCullough.

To learn more about the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument and what it stands for, go to the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument Centennial Celebration website.

To become a Friend of the Martyrs Monument (and make a donation in the process), email Ruth Goldstein or call 718- 596-0899. The Fort Greene Park Conservancy is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization, making 60% of your donation tax deductible.