Happy 150th birthday Prospect Park, now party like it's 1867

For 150 years, Prospect Park has served as a green haven for Brooklynites, a place to breathe fresh air, cry under a bush, smoke a joint, actually maybe see a star or two, take a long walk, observe non-pigeon/squirrel wildlife and generally get away from it all. If you squint your eyes and look away from the park’s perimeter you can even pretend for a moment that you’re not in the city but in, like, Connecticut, or upstate or somewhere like that, with trees. It’s a blessing and a beauty, Prospect Park, and thank god it was built 150 years ago because there’s no chance the city could or would purchase such a large swathe of land for public space in 2017.

In today’s #TBT winter park-goers wait outside of a snow covered carriage center overlooking @prospect_park’s Long Meadow. This shot was found in the Prospect Park Alliance archives. This year, the Alliance is looking back on 150 years of Prospect Park history learn more through the link in our profile. #prospectpark150 #prospectpark

A post shared by prospect_park (@prospect_park) on Mar 16, 2017 at 7:06am PDT

In honor of the birthday of Brooklyn’s backyard, the Prospect Park Alliance is throwing a weekend-long party this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, March 30 through April 2.

The bday bash will kick off Friday night with Lola Star’s roller disco on ice at the LeFrak Center ($20, 7-10pm). Saturday there will be a parade and then, “the Brooklyn Atlantics, a historic baseball team, will play an exhibition game following 1860 rules.” No corpses were exhumed for the event.

There will also be a fair, a party just for dogs and their owners, a bird watching walk, a tour of Prospect Park’s running history, a grillout, campfire convos and more ice skating, among other activities.

On Sunday, the first Smorgasburg of the season will set up shop on Breeze Hill with over 100 food and drink vendors.

The vast majority of the activities are free, although some require online registration. To see the full lineup of events, see Prospect Park’s official bday invite.