Of course this year was no exception. It was humid (of course) and pretty crowded but the food and drink lines were short. We stayed all afternoon and most of the night.
They take over a large part of Randall's Island and provide everything you need for a great picnic - food, drinks, hammocks, games, music, dancing, crafts, and rides.
This year they even had a soccer field with a huge screen set up at one end. It was really fun to watch the US play their final World Cup soccer match with at least 1,000 other people.
Of course I always enjoy the food. They have different themed areas and each one has different treats.
Michael's favorite was the shrimp boil - shrimp, crayfish, sausage, and corn just boiled and topped with some Old Bay seasoning.
I like all of the treats - especially what I consider 'Fair Food'. At the BBQ stand we had chive biscuits, quinoa salad, and roasted corn on the cob. The corn was so good!
There was a Good Humor ice cream truck handing out various ice cream treats - I opted for a delicious ice cream sandwich and Michael opted for more shrimp boil.
I rounded everything out with a deep fried Twinkie. It had a coating, maybe some kind of cereal like corn flakes and it was topped with chocolate, strawberry, or caramel sauce. I went with caramel and planned to take just one bite. Of course I ate the whole thing. I was pretty tasty - the filling was kind of melted and the crust gave it a good texture. But I think one deep fried Twinkie is all I need in this lifetime.
Over by the shrimp boil area there was a sand pit with 'beach' volleyball. The tables had buckets of sidewalk chalk and there was a blacktop area for drawing. There were tables with games set out - checkers, chess, mancala, and Scrabble.
They also had some really cool 'belly up' picnic tables. We found this one in the shade and it was home base for quite a while.
One section of the picnic area had a Latin theme. The food was arroz con pollo and flan. The rice was delicious! There was one version that was traditional with chicken and one version that was vegetarian. I chose the vege version while Michael had the chicken version - he won that round. The rice with the chicken was much more flavorful and delicious than rice with just veges.
In this same area they had a stage set up where they were giving dance lessons and there were groups performing. While we were there we saw a Brazilian dance troupe put on a show.
The center of the entire picnic was a huge dance floor - it was 'tented' by rows and rows of red and white umbrellas. The effect was awesome.
The last few hours of the picnic the center stage was the place to be - the entertainment staff pulled the crowd in from all of the surrouding areas and started a huge dance party.
And speaking of the entertainment staff - what would a picnic be without ants? They had two entertainers dressed up as ants. The female ant was everywhere. She was there when we entered the picnic, she was in the Latin section when we were eating our arroz con pollo, and of course she was out on that dance floor the last few hours of the picnic.
Best of all when we decided to leave the picnic this year there was a ferry stop at 90th St along the East River. In previous years we've had to catch the ferry way down at 34th St and then get a cab or take a bus home. This year we got off the ferry and 5 minutes later we were enjoying our air conditioned apartment.
I'm already dreaming of what they will do for the picnic next year!
