Friday night’s all right for parties!
Bay Ridge will kick off the first night of the first official weekend of summer with an amazing array of activities.
Take off work early on Friday because Bay Ridge’s first-ever Taste of Fifth Avenue festival (Fifth Avenue between 73rd and 83rd streets) starts at 6 pm. Eateries will line the sidewalks with food options, and the street will be filled with carnival rides and a video game truck until 10 pm.
While you stroll and sample your way down the avenue, stop at Bay Ridge Pizza (7704 Fifth Ave. between 77th and 78th streets) at 7 pm to catch Full Disclosure rock an outdoor show in front of the slice joint.
Then compare your pizza consumption against the professionals a few blocks away at the annual pizza-eating contest at Rocco’s Pizzeria (7818 Fifth Ave. between 78th and 79th streets), postponed from earlier this month due to bad weather. See how many slices these pizza-gobblers can stuff into their gullets between 7:30 pm, when the contest starts, and 7:42 pm, when a victor will be crowned.
When the sun starts towards the horizon, head across the ‘hood to the Narrows Botanical Garden (Shore Road between Mackay Place and 71st Street) for an outdoor screening of the Ben Stiller flick “Night at the Museum.”
The neighborhood’s most psychedelic jam band, the Dead Ridge Boys, will have an acoustic jam with a “special guest” at the Leif Bar (6725 Fifth Ave., between 67th and Senator streets) starting at 9 pm on Friday. It is the perfect way to end your fun-filled night!
For a Saturday night of song and violence, wander to Trinity Lutheran Church (9020 Third Ave. between 90th and 91st streets) at 7 pm. La Forza dell’Opera will perform Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin,” about a hero who rejects a young woman and kills his best friend in a duel — a kind of Russian anti-“Hamilton.” Tickets are $20.
Or sneak over to Schnitzel Haus (7319 Fifth Ave. between 73rd and 74th streets) to catch Identity Theft playing blues, classic rock, and more at 8 pm. Local acoustic soloist Steve Triglianos will keep the fire burning in between sets with upbeat tunes from the 1970s.
