Pollinator Festival Brings Family Fun, Beautification, to Edgemere

By Jamaica Bay Rockaway Parks Conservancy

Local families joined the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC), The Garden By the Bay, and the Edgemere Alliance at the 43rd Street Waterfront Park on Saturday, May 9, for the annual Pollinator Festival — presented in partnership with NYC Parks.

Attendees learned about native bees, butterflies, and other pollinating insects that support coastal and urban habitats, while participating in hands-on activities highlighting their role in building resilient waterfronts and the challenges they face.

In addition, budding gardeners helped install native plants at the Beach 43rd Street Waterfront Park, a treasured neighborhood communal space used for spring and summer gatherings, and as a kayak launch into Jamaica Bay’s Norton Basin.

Participants decorated terracotta pots, made seed bombs and took home their own pollinator-friendly native plants to care for at home.

Despite the rain, spirits remained undampened. The community can look forward to many more friendly pollinators appearing across spring and summer, leading up to the fall migration of monarch butterflies.

Additional upcoming family-friendly events include the Horseshoe Crab Festival on Sunday, May 17 at Sunset Cove Park; a free night-sky observing session hosted by the Amateur Astronomers Association on Friday, May 29 at Floyd Bennett Field; and a “Learn to Fish” clinic with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the National Park Service on Saturday, May 30 at Beach 108th Street, adjacent to the Rockaway ferry landing.