Gowanus Canal canoers celebrate early voting with live opera, French horn salute
Paddlers from the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club (GDCC) and Brooklyn’s Wide Awakes Navy joined forces with the Metropolitan Horn Authority (MHA) and Harlem-based opera singer and drag performer Shequida Hall on Friday night to create an only-in-Brooklyn musical experience aimed at promoting early voting.
The costumed participants boarded their various vessels at the 2nd Street dock and paddled or motored slowly to the Gowanus’ Fourth Street Basin in the evening gloam. Meanwhile, surprised and delighted pedestrians, bicyclists and Whole Foods shoppers realized something special was up and quickly lined both sides of the Canal and the Third Street Bridge to watch the goings on. They were rewarded with the sight of a blinking life preserver, illuminated “Vote!” signs and the sparkling Hall, who was clad face-mask-to-foot in glittering silver sequins.
The festive flotilla (vote-illa?) began with a stirring military-style French horn salute from the MHA, followed by their sweet rendition of the 1971 “Willy Wonka” song “Pure Imagination,” evoking warm memories of that movie’s chocolate-river boat ride.