DUMBO's Waterfront Lawn Is Closed Until Spring, So the Winter Season Moves Under the Bridges

Empire Fulton Ferry Lawn has been closed since mid-October. According to Brooklyn Bridge Park's alerts page, it stays closed for renovations until Spring 2027. Farther south in the park, crews are taking out the old Transfer Bridge at Pier 4. At Fulton Ferry Landing, a work barge sits in the former Bargemusic slip for overnight pile repairs.

So this winter, the open-air parts of DUMBO are mostly paved: Emily Warren Roebling Plaza, the Dumbo Archway, Pearl Plaza, and the Empire Stores lobby. Every event on the neighborhood's holiday calendar is already scheduled for one of those spots. With the grass closed, they're simply the main event until spring.

What's closed, and for how long

Here's what's closed or changed for the season, as of early November.

The park says all of these dates can change without notice. The park hasn't published the scope of the lawn renovation. The lawn page just says the area is "undergoing renovations." For the first snow, the rules are simple. Pier 5 turf stays closed until the snow melts, because it isn't plowed. Squibb Bridge, the Pier 2 pickleball courts and every playground close until crews clear them.

Two contracts from March explain the work

The waterfront work this fall was approved months ago. At its March 4, 2026 meeting, according to the board minutes, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation's board unanimously approved two agreements. One is $797,907 to Trevcon Construction Company for the Pier 4 Transfer Bridge demolition. The other is $3,722,586 to Phoenix Marine Co. for "Empire Fulton Ferry Wharf Rehabilitation & Fulton Ferry Landing Rehabilitation." The park's City Record procurement notice describes the second contract as structural marine work: concrete, steel sheet piles, bulkhead fill and sinkhole repairs along the wharf and landing. It's a separate job from the lawn closure, and its price isn't the lawn's cost.

The Pier 4 structure is a leftover from the waterfront's rail-freight past. The park's Pier 4 Beach page says goods transferred at the Lackawanna Terminal in New Jersey landed there to be delivered across Long Island. The procurement notice describes timber rail ties and steel rails sitting on steel beams and two main girders, with the landward end on a submerged timber platform. Bird Island, the planted preserve just offshore, was built from the remains of the same railroad float transfer bridge. The park describes it as off-limits habitat with salt-tolerant plants that draw birds. The contract calls for the work to be done from barges. Exposed steel piles at Pier 4 Beach get cut two feet below the mudline, ground down and covered with two feet of sand, and the debris is hauled away. The contractor also has to leave the trees and plantings around the work area undisturbed.

A plaza becomes the rink

Emily Warren Roebling Plaza has been under detours since October 14 while the rink goes in, and that work runs through November 13. Roebling Rink opens Saturday, November 14, 2026. It's open daily from then on, and tickets start at $10.

Until November 13, the plaza is a work site with detours, and the lawn stays closed until Spring 2027. Starting November 14, the rink under the Brooklyn Bridge is the main outdoor attraction. A few blocks inland, the Archway takes over the same weekend.

The Archway handles the rest of the calendar

The DUMBO Improvement District's holiday schedule puts almost everything under the Manhattan Bridge or a short walk from it. In date order:

1. Brooklyn Flea holiday market, Dumbo Archway + Plaza. Saturdays and Sundays, November 14 through December 20, 10am to 5pm. More than 40 vendors, plus mulled wine and performances.
2. Santa's mailbox, beside the holiday tree in Archway Plaza, from Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve. Letters that list gifts sold in DUMBO may get $100 in Dumbo Dollars back.
3. FAD Market, Empire Stores lobby. Daily, November 30 through December 20, 11am to 6pm, with small NYC-based makers.
4. Holiday Bar Crawl, Wednesday, December 2, 5pm until late. Fourteen spots offer $12 specialty cocktails, $9 wine or mocktails and $6 beers.
5. Tree lighting, Thursday, December 3, 4 to 7pm, in the Dumbo Archway and Pearl Plaza. The tree is lit at 5:30pm sharp.
6. Shop the Studios, Saturday, December 5, 1 to 6pm. It's the sixth year that more than 80 DUMBO artists open their studios. Maps are at the Brooklyn Flea in the Archway.

The tree is new this year. It's decorated with DUMBO-themed ornaments designed by Katie Wendt of Augenblick Studios. Augenblick, an animation studio based in DUMBO, also makes the holiday projections that run nightly on the BQE, the Manhattan Bridge and nearby building facades. None of these events needs grass. The tree, the flea and the projections all sit on the same few blocks of pavement and steel that the lawn closure leaves alone.

Evenings, once the park closes early

Winter evenings in the park get shorter. Pier 2 has been closing at 9pm since October, and restrooms close at 10pm starting this month. Some park concessions also close for the season, so the park suggests checking hours before you go.

Jane's Carousel keeps its fall hours through December 31: closed Monday and Tuesday, open 11:00 AM to 5:50 PM the rest of the week. From January 1 through March 16, 2027, it's also closed Wednesdays. A ride costs $4. Since the carousel closes before 6pm, a weekday visit after work isn't possible. Weekends are the realistic option all winter.

Inland, DUMBO's evenings are indoors, and two of the newer places are a few minutes from the Archway. Don't Matter, a vinyl listening bar at 55 Sands Street at Adams, opened August 5. It takes reservations and is open Wednesday through Sunday. Earlier in the year, Titán opened at 5 Front Street serving Northern Mexican food and drinks; Eater NY reported the June 17 opening. The plaza calendar runs late in the week too. The bar crawl falls on a Wednesday and the tree lighting on a Thursday, so the season's two biggest evenings land midweek.

Before the rink opens: this weekend

DUMBO's own calendar is quiet until November 14, and the closest big event this weekend is in Downtown Brooklyn. Playback: The Brooklyn Watch Party is a two-day festival at BAM on Friday and Saturday, November 6 and 7. The guest curators are Questlove, John Turturro and Bryan Stevenson, and the Brooklyn Eagle reported that Spike Lee's Crooklyn opens it Friday evening. From there, the Archway calendar starts the following Saturday and continues through December 20. The lawn is due back in Spring 2027.

The waterfront work will change how some DUMBO blocks feel day to day, from which plazas carry the foot traffic to which spots stay closed until spring. If you own nearby and want to know how that affects your building, John Chubet and the JTC Team know these blocks well and can walk you through it. Let's connect, and we'll start with a home valuation.