Day: September 12, 2025

Local politicians, law enforcement officials, service members and community residents gathered Monday evening at the American Veterans Memorial Pier on the Bay Ridge waterfront for a 9/11 vigil honoring the nearly 3,000 lives lost and the first responders who rushed into the burning towers at great personal risk.

The program included musical performances by the Xaverian High School Band, the presentation of the colors and Pledge of Allegiance by the Girl Scouts, and the national anthem performed by Scarlett London Diviney. Rabbi Royi Shaffin of the Bay Ridge Jewish Center, Imam Ahmed Ali Uzir, commissioner of the NYC Commission on Racial Equity, and the Rev. Brian P. Dowd of St. Patrick’s Church offered prayers and reflections.

Addressing the attendees, many of them holding American flags, Council Member Justin Brannan recalled that 23 of his former classmates from Xaverian High School were killed in the terror attacks.

“They were all innocent salt of the earth,” Brannan said. “Souls stolen. Everyone lost someone they loved that day, but our community here in southern Brooklyn was hit very hard. Maybe as a result, we have taken seriously the charge of never forget.”

Brannan also emphasized the importance of funding the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Act, which supports the thousands of first responders who have been diagnosed with World Trade Center-related cancers linked to exposure to toxic dust at Ground Zero during the rescue, recovery and cleanup operations.

“We cannot leave them behind,” Brannan urged. “This is something that should transcend political divides. Fully funding this act is not just a matter of policy; it’s a matter of honor and responsibility to those who gave so much to our city and our country.”

State Sen. Andrew Gounardes reflected not only on the emotional toll of the worst terror attack on American soil but also on the countless acts of heroism and selflessness on 9/11 and in the months that followed.

“I’m thinking about the incredible bravery and sacrifice of our first responders, as well as the many everyday New Yorkers who stepped up and answered the call to help,” Gounardes said, reminding the crowd that 24 years later, first responders were still dying from 9/11-related illnesses.

“We owe the heroes still living with 9/11-related diseases the ongoing support and care they deserve from every level of government,” Gounardes said.

Col. Alexander Young of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, joined the Army 24 years ago after the events of 9/11.

“It really shaped my career, where I served, and a lot of what I did in uniform. The sacrifice of those who responded to that call that day, that included people in my organization, left a legacy that continues to inspire and motivate me to this day,” Young said.

NYPD Capt. John Dasaro, commanding officer of the 68th Precinct, said the darkness of 9/11 also revealed the courage of first responders who rushed into danger to protect others.

“As a community, we have the responsibility to carry out the legacy of those we lost, to stand together, to support one another, and to never take for granted the freedoms and security that so many have fought to preserve,” Dasaro said. “Let today serve as both a remembrance and a call to action.”

FDNY Deputy Chief David Simms, who was a lieutenant at a fire station in lower Manhattan on 9/11, recalled the cobalt-blue sky that morning as he worked through the smoke, fire and screams.

“I also remember that on the darkest day in recent American history, the members of the FDNY never shined brighter than they did that day,” said Simms, who lost 343 of his brothers that morning. “24 years is a long time. The memory fades. Survivors move on. It is our nature to want to put days like this behind us, but some things we don’t forget, they can’t be forgotten.”

Josh Pesin attended the vigil holding a photo of his friend, John William Perry. Perry, an NYPD officer, had been at police headquarters on the morning of 9/11, filing his retirement papers to begin a new career as a lawyer. When he heard about the attacks, he grabbed his badge back and rushed to Ground Zero to assist in the rescue efforts. Perry was killed when one of the towers collapsed, and his body was recovered months later.

“It’s a sad memory, but we have to have resolve to continue. Life goes on, [we have to] and remember the people we lost,” Pesin said.

Bay Ridge resident Leslie Pasipanki told Brooklyn Paper that she knew some of the 9/11 victims, as well as a survivor who worked on the 105th floor of the South Tower. Despite being told to stay in place after the first plane hit the North Tower, the survivor left and was on a train when the second plane struck the South Tower, Pasipanki recounted.

“So all these things come back to me every year when I watch the morning show on 9/11. I remember all these things. It’s important to us, it really is,” Pasipanki said.

Performers routinely hit the road to perform in New York City, but the Flotsam River Circus hit the river instead with its waterfront spectacle part Cirque de Soleil, part Ringling Brothers and part Huckleberry Finn.

This one-of-a-kind circus, a kind of Huckleberry on the Hudson for a few days, assembles a collection of experienced circus performers from around the world on a ragtag raft converted into a stage on the river.

These nomads, who didn’t run away with but launched a waterfront circus, opened in New York City with a show at Barretto Point Park in the Bronx a few days ago.

There is another free show tonight, September 12, 6-7:30 at Pebble Beach in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Two more New York City shows follow, Saturday, Sept. 13 and 14, 6-7:30 p.m. on southwestern Randall’s Island, near the Ward’s Island pedestrian bridge.

Performances are free, but audiences are asked to contribute to help keep this traveling circus afloat. More information about Flotsam River Circus and its New York shows is available at rivercircus.com.

“The stage is the boat. The audience gathers on the shore,” Jason Wembley, a musician, creator and “captain” of this ragtag river show, said. “We set up the boat tethered to the shore. The waves knock us around. Sometimes, that’s a bit crazy. There’s live music throughout.”

Since 2019, they have performed in front of tens of thousands across 13 states and travelled over 2,000 river miles, plus thousands on the road. 

Crowds gathered on land to watch their waterfront shows from the Willamette River in Oregon to the Mississippi. The troupe in 2024 completed their biggest tour, traveling the length of the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to Paducah.

These wandering waterfront performers are helping celebrate the Erie Canal Bicentennial by traveling from Wilkeson Pointe Beach in Buffalo to New York City, and hope someday to bring their floating circus to rivers and canals in Europe, and eventually the globe.

Wembley, who organizes and plays accordion, put together a talented troupe from Washington state, North Carolina, New Orleans, Taiwan, Brazil and elsewhere. Performers have worked for the Cirque du Soleil, Ringling Brothers, as well as creating their own smaller circus shows.

“I didn’t want the show to be a sequence of circus acts. These are characters on a boat in this post-apocalyptic future. It’s silly and hopefully very fun,” Wembley said of the show with a story involving an apocalypse and a lot of antics. “The premise is the world has bene taken over by mutant fish and we’re watching some of the last humans.”

The troupe includes Kalan Sherrard, a puppet maker, puppeteer and Jim Henson Foundation grantee who has toured more than 60 nations. 

Then there’s Justin Therrien, a juggler, sword swallower and comedian, who performs, along with partner (in life and business) and Shoestring Circus co-founder Nicole Laumb, who specializes in character acting, Spanish web, and sideshow stunts. 

Circus veteran Danila Bim, a dancer from Brazil who does aerial hoop work, worked for Cirque du Soleil and Ringling Bros. Ambalancer, a choreographer, gymnast and balance artist, hails from Taiwan. Sarki Breznau is the music director and multi-instrumentalist for this global group that includes other performers with various talents and skills.

“I don’t have a very good, short answer,” Wembley said of the genesis of the “Flotsam” name. “It’s the culmination of all the threads of my life. I used to be a touring musician. I loved the idea of having a show on the road. I grew up under the spell of Huck Finn and all of that. I’ve been inspired by boating art projects my friends were involved with.”

Wembley and friends built the boat, designed it to hit the road (in pieces aboard another vehicle) and river and transform into a floating stage.

“For the past 25-plus years, I lived on a houseboat on the Snoqualmie River outside Seattle,” Wembley said. “The boat is designed to come apart, be driven to new places and be reassembled.”

After touring the Mississippi, Ohio and other rivers, they have played to concert-size crowds of hundreds at many locations along their New York route, where they ask audience to bring blankets or lawn chairs.

“It has an outboard we use to propel it underneath a pontoon boat,” Wembley said of this seaborne stage. “It’s meant to inspire your imagination and look like a ramshackle raft made of garbage and driftwood.”

Simply scheduling and getting necessary approvals to perform at this unusual list of locations takes time.

“I spend the whole year scouting locations and wrestling with municipalities,” Wembley said, noting the Erie anniversary helped secure New York locations. “The New York State Canal System was supportive, but it was a lengthy process figuring out the permits.”

He added that there are “famously 500 miles of shoreline here,” but they were looking for land to serve as a sloped amphitheater, since the boat sits low on the water.

“We’ve had rain in Poughkeepsie and Medina. If it’s dumping, we’d have to cancel,” Wembley said. “This year we haven’t had to cancel anything.”

Some performers sleep on the boat, while others sleep on the bus. “During the tour, the bus is our land vehicle, our kitchen, and has bunks,” Wembley said. “At the end of the tour, we break down the boat. Most smaller pieces get loaded on the bus.”

Taking a circus show on the road, and the river, without many grants in a Netflix world isn’t easy, especially without a ticket price. They rely on goodwill, good audiences, good shows, and (to an extent) fairly good weather.

“We pass the hat and hope that the audience is generous. I don’t pay myself. I work on it all year. It’s a labor of love,” Wembley said. “The project for the last couple of years has broken even. We try to pay everybody a living wage. The shows are free, but we take donations. And audiences have been generous.”

Wembley said his interest in riverboating was partly nourished by Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn’s voyage. He doesn’t see himself as a modern Huck Finn, but there is something eminently American and entrepreneurial about turning rivers into a stage.

“That was an influence on me when I was a little boy. It hasn’t been an active part of my imagination,” Wembley added of Huck Finn. “But I think it sowed a seed. Eight-year-old me would be excited to see what 50-year-old me is doing.”

Info. and to donate www.rivercircus.com.

To volunteer and help info@rivercircus.com

Sept 12, 6 p.m. Brooklyn Bridge Park
Sept 13 6 p.m. Randalls Island 
Sept 14 6 p.m. Randalls Island