Pier 26’s ‘Rio on the Hudson’ featured samba music, capoeria demonstrations and classes, a faux Olympic flame, spectacularly costumed Carnival dancers, meet-and-greets with Olympic stars such as former gold-medal U.S. women’s national soccer team captain Christie Rampone, a golf simulator for dad, and crafts for the kids.
Former gold-medal U.S. women’s national soccer team captain Christie Rampone greets a fan.
Hudson River Park celebrated the opening of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this week with “Rio on the Hudson” at Pier 26. The six-day festival of sports and Brazilian culture — bankrolled by Olympic sponsor and Tibeca neighbor Citigroup — featured samba music, spectacularly costumed Carnival dancers, Brazilian food, and demonstrations of the nation’s dance-cum-martial art capoeira, as well as fitness activities, games, crafts, and meet-and-greets with Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
The opening night kicked off last Friday with the lighting of a flaming cauldron before the Rio Games’ opening ceremonies were shown live to spectators on the pier. Christie Rampone, former captain of the gold-medal U.S. women’s soccer team, greeted fans on the first day. Later in the festival, fellow soccer star Mia Hamm made an appearance, as well as track-and-field legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
For the duration of the free event, running from Aug. 5—11, Pier 26 was transformed into a sanitized simulacrum of the troubled South American nation — complete with a beach, palm trees, live samba music and dancers, and vendors selling authentic Brazilian food and drinks — but with none of the headaches facing the actual games in Rio, ranging from street crime to the Zika virus, to raw sewage and “super bacteria” in the water of some Olympic venues.
A capoeria demonstration.
A local samba band.
A golf simulator for dad…
…and crafts for the kids!
