Day: August 27, 2025

There’s no denying that the New York Liberty are simply perfect when they have Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu healthy.

The post Liberty’s Big Three set to make big run appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

Dragons, pizza rats and spaghetti-powered machines hurtled down 17th Street on Saturday as the South Slope Soap Box Derby returned for its 18th year, drawing families to Brooklyn’s most imaginative race.

Nearly 90 homemade soap box cars built from recycled materials hurtled down the slope to cheers from hundreds of friends, family and fans. The annual derby, a culmination of KoKo NYC’s summer programming, has become a South Slope tradition, celebrating creativity, innovation — and just the right amount of chaos.

“It was such a great summer, it was amazing,” KoKo NYC director Monika Wuhrer told Brooklyn Paper. “Every year we have a few more, and the cool thing is, they come really with ideas already and they just make it into the coolest cars.”

The vehicles, designed and assembled during week-long workshops, were judged on speed, engineering, design, and creativity by a panel that included Christie Hodgkins, former Education Director of KoKo NYC; Moustafa Hassan of Park Slope Hardware; Denis de Verteuil, Senior Program Manager at NYC DOT; and Jay Kumar, chef and owner of LORE.

This year’s lineup of cars showcased the kids’ wild imaginations, with names like the Creeper Mobile, Chicken Jockey, Pizza Rat, The White Whale, Bone Crusher, and The Spaghetti Meowbile, among others. Some cars zoomed down with surprising precision, while others rattled apart mid-race, their young drivers grinning through the mayhem.

“There are always a few crashes,” Wuhrer laughed, though none have ever been serious. She believes builders have improved over the years, thus picking up more speed in the race.

“They’re all a little extra fast,” she said of this year’s builds. “I think there’s a lot of good builders nowadays.”

Spectators gasped as one racer plowed through the finish line and collided with the flag waver’s ladder. Still, aside from a few minor spills, no one was injured. After crossing the finish line, kids hustled their battered cars to what became a makeshift junkyard, where the day’s creations were dismantled piece by piece.