Enjoy the 4th of July Fireworks, celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, and support PortSide NewYork programs all at once! Your support will also help us maintain NYC’s favorite oil tanker, our flagship Mary A. Whalen!
PortSide connects New Yorkers to the benefits of the harbor, and this event gives you a festive taste of how we do that.
BYOB, we provide pizza. Suggested donation $125, reserve your spot here.
We open at 7:30pm. Fireworks start at 9:25pm.
We have great sightlines to the Brooklyn Bridge. The fireworks will be launched from 4 barges south of the bridge giving us a spectacular view! See map at bottom. We also see the tops of the Jersey City fireworks to the west.
The ship will stay docked in Red Hook.
For those who have been to the 4th on the MARY before, we will not use BBQs at this event. We will supply pizza, and feel free to bring other food. BYOB.
Kid friendly!
As usual, we'll have our play wheelhouse and other toys on deck, and the Tankerman's has kids’ books, stuffies, and the ever-popular bunk beds.
Directions and travel advisories
The MARY is docked on Pier 11, Atlantic Basin next to Red Hook/Atlantic Basin NYC ferry stop, near the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Enter Atlantic Basin by bike or foot at the corner of Pioneer and Conover Streets, and by car at the corner of Bowne and Imlay Streets. Address of 202 Clinton Wharf works for Lyft. The Atlantic Basin entrance at Ferris and King Street is only open dawn to dusk and will likely be closed.
We have not seen the traffic advisories yet, but since there are many tall ships and foreign navy vessels coming for the Sail4th250 event, we expect crowds along the waterfront and more traffic than for the usual 4th of July.
The NYC Ferry usually stops running in the afternoon, so you cannot take the ferry to us shortly before the event; but an afternoon in Red Hook can be a great thing!
About PortSide NewYork
Founded in 2005, PortSide has won awards from the federal, state, and city levels of government and from multiple cultural and preservation organizations. We advocate for growing maritime activity of all types in NYC. Our education programs serve K through grad school. Since Sandy, we have resiliency flood preparation programs. Our unique virtual museum Red Hook WaterStories tells NYC’s maritime story in microcosm. We have the region’s only African American Maritime Heritage program. And our historic ship Mary A. Whalen is the last of her kind in the USA, on the National Register of Historic Places, and a special “third place” community center.
