Flatfoot Flatbush

Celebrate the Winter Solstice with Porch Stomp, Make Music New York, and the North Flatbush Avenue Business Improvement District! 

Flatfoot Flatbush is Brooklyn’s first-ever flatfooting parade, celebrated as part of Make Music New York’s Winter Solstice Celebration. Now in its tenth year in 2023, the North Flatbush Avenue Business Improvement District (BID) teams up with Make Music New York and Porch Stomp to bring you another exciting year of music and dancing to ring in the holiday season.

During Flatfoot Flatbush, dancers, fiddlers, and pickers parade down Flatbush Avenue in Park Slope/Prospect Heights, playing old-time tunes while flatfooting, a form of percussive dancing from Appalachia. The evening begins with a warm-up and quick flatfooting workshop hosted by Megan Downes (City Stompers), which will take place outdoors at 4pm at Flatbush Avenue and Carlton (northeast side of the street, right outside the B/Q subway entrance). 

Immediately following, the flatfooting parade will kick off and traverse Flatbush Avenue, moving North toward Dean Street, and then looping back towards 6th Avenue, stopping at local businesses to bring holiday cheer. 

This year’s parade will feature exceptional performances, including from Brooklyn Conservatory of Music’s “Wind in the Pines.” The parade will finish at 5:30pm at the 6th Avenue Triangle (intersection of Flatbush, 6th, and St Marks Avenues), with a special performance from the Gowanus Wildcats, and a participatory Contra dance led by Brooklyn Contra. 

Starting at 6:30pm, the fun continues at an indoor after-party (75B 6th Avenue) featuring more music and dance, and an open jam led by the Flatfoot Flatbush Band. The after-party doubles as the North Flatbush Avenue BID merchant holiday party and will bring together businesses in the district to share in holiday cheer.

HOW TO JOIN:

Guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo players, and other stringed instrumentalists are encouraged to join the Flatfoot Flatbush String Band! To join, just email [email protected] no later than December 18th to obtain music scores and detailed instructions. Dancers and boosters are welcome to simply stroll on up! Flatfoot Flatbush is free and open to the public – anyone can participate. The event celebrates the warm, festive community cultivated by Brooklyn’s North Flatbush Avenue BID and the city’s vibrant folk music and dancing scene.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Between Park Place and Dean Street, Park Place, Brooklyn, United States