Get ready to rock and stroll!
The 24th-annual BayFest — a free outdoor concert hosted by the Bay Improvement Group — is featuring Billy Joel’s Movin’ Out Band and other stars at the festival in Sheepshead Bay on May 17.
The show starts the summer season on a high note, according to an organizer, who said this year’s celebration will be better than ever.
“You cannot get better than Billy Joel’s band,” said Steve Barrison, the president of the Bay Improvement Group.
The Movin’ Out Band, from the Tony Award-winning musical “Movin’ Out” includes several members of Billy Joel’s own backup band and is fronted by Wade Preston, who played the Piano Man on Broadway.
There will be more than a dozen other performers as well, including the indie-pop singer Darnaa, the rock band the Giant Flying Turtles, ’70s throwback band Disco Unlimited, and the dance-and-hula-hoop entertainers Frisky à Go-Go.
By popular demand, the festival will feature several pop performers, but there will be different tunes to satisfy all types of music fans, according to Barrison.
“The regular pop music seems to get the biggest response,” he said. “We’re trying our best to juggle from the many comments.”
In addition to the musical acts, locals can try their hands at carnival games and other family-friendly activities such as arts and crafts at the all-day festival.
But attendees will not see the typical street-fair vendors selling tube socks and sausages so common at other neighborhood festivals, since the point of Bayfest is to boost local businesses, Barrison said.
“If you want something, you can find it in Sheepshead Bay if you look for it,” he said. “The strip has every kind of food, from fast food, grab-a-piece-of-pizza type, to sit-down.”
For at least one day each spring, residents of all backgrounds can put aside their differences and celebrate the beautiful bay that has residents singing its praises all year, Barrison said.
“Everyone in Sheepshead Bay can join together — no matter what your opinion is on anything — and celebrate that we have this beautiful, unique waterfront,” he said. “There is no place in New York like it.”
Billy Joel’s Movin’ Out Band headlining at BayFest (Emmons Avenue and E. 27th Street). May 17 at 2 pm. Free.
