DUMBO, Brooklyn (PIX11) – It’s regarded as one of the most photographed streets in Brooklyn and on Saturday, Washington Street will be full of thousands of people and thousands of tiny elephants floating in the air to raise money for local schools.
The Dumbo Drop is the biggest event for the Dumbo Improvement District. Alexandria Sica is the organization’s president
“It’s just joyous,” Sica said. “That’s all I could say. It’s a moment of delight that you won’t see anywhere else.”
Sica’s team is getting the elephants ready and tied to parachutes before the big drop. The event brings people to the neighborhood to help the nearby businesses thrive and it also serves as a fundraiser for nearby schools.
“The two schools that we’re supporting, P.S. 307 and the Dock Street School, are both Title 1 schools and this raises critical, critical funding for them to do all sorts of extracurricular activities, STEM activities, field trips,” Sica added. “It’s wonderful.”
For a $20 dollar donation, one parachuting elephant will be dropped and if it falls into the right targets at the bottom, different prizes will be won such as $1,000 dollars to spend in the neighborhood.
Those interested have until 8 p.m. on a Friday night to purchase an elephant. You can do so by going to the Dumbo Improvement District’s website here.
“Then we have a staycation at 1 Hotel [Brooklyn Bridge],” Sica said. “We have ice cream parties for 25 people, a roof deck party at Time Out Market.”
Each elephant is numbered, so if you don’t win, you’ll still be able to take one home as a souvenir. The parachute is also a collector’s item created by an artist in the neighborhood.
“This was designed by Jamie Walker who’s a local artist,” Sica said. “Every year we work with a different Dumbo-based artist.”
There will be two drops on Saturday. The first is at 5 PM and the other is at 7:30 PM. The Improvement District is reminding families that the best way to get out there is to leave your car at home and either take the train or bike over because it’s going to be a busy, but fun, time.
