Spring Awakening 2026
2026-05-09 12:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Lower East Side
*Postponed to May 9th*
Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens (LUNGS) is proud to present the annual Spring Awakening parade and festival. This is a neighborhood wide celebration of Earth Day, and the opening of the community gardens. All Festivities are FREE and include a parade, pony rides, music, kids’ activities, art, environmental and educational workshops and a Special Garden Tour with Magali Regis.
The parade will start outside El Sol Brillante at Noon and feature Batala, our Tree Goddess, and Le Velo Rouge. It will continue East on 12th to Loisaida Avenue and turn South. Then it will return West across 7th, go through Tompkins Square Park, and finish on 9th and B. Following the parade, there will be pony rides on Avenue B between 7th & 8th streets., a puppet making workshop, seed give away, and music from Martini X, with Arturo Martinez, Jeff Ellenberger, Sylvain Leroux, and Marta Gaia.
For more information on all of the day’s events, check out the LUNGS website here.

Spring Fundraiser Concert & Party 2026
2026-06-06 12:00 - 18:00
Join us for El Sol Brillante’s annual spring fundraiser! Featuring a lineup of incredible local bands, a raffle, delicious food and treats, and craft tables! Bring a shirt to tie dye or purchase one of ours! A fun day for the whole family.
Music starts at 1 PM and will feature:
V.
Proper Tea
Raindogg
Momentum

Isle of Klezbos - In Bloom
2026-06-23 17:00 - 19:00 | El Sol Brillante, 522 E 12th St.
Join us for a performance by the Isle of Klezbos Sextet featuring a reading by Irena Klepfisz and tap dancers Laraine Goodman an Margaret Morrison.
ISLE OF KLEZBOS approaches Yiddish musical traditions with loving irreverence and profound respect. Soulful, fun-loving powerhouse all-gal klezmer sextet has toured from Vienna to Vancouver since 1998. Blending neo-folkloric tunes, reimagined classics, and a sound all their own, the band’s “cutting-edge klezmer” is acclaimed as “rapturous and rollicking”.

The Lupine Series Presents: The Music of James Taylor
2026-08-15 17:30 - 18:30 | El Sol Brillante, 522 E 12th St.
Join us in the garden for a free concert celebrating the music of James Taylor with a 7-piece band made up of local musicians. Hosted by The Lupine Series.

Charlie Parker Jazz Festival: Xiomara Laugart feat. Reverse Audio
2026-08-26 17:30 - 18:30 | El Sol Brillante, 522 E 12th St.
As part of the annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, El Sol Brillante will be hosting a “Jazz in the Garden” performance – live jazz by local artists in the neighborhood green spaces where Charlie Parker lived.
The famed Cuban Trova singer Xiomara Laugart was a founding member of the renowned Latin fusion band Yerba Buena, and played the lead role in the 2007 Off-Broadway musical Celia: The Life and Music of Celia Cruz. In recent years she has often been accompanied by her talented son Axel Tosca–“A Cuban jazz pianist who is one of New York City’s best young timba musicians” (New York Latin Culture Magazine). His trio Reverse Audio blends progressive Jazz, Cuban Timba, and R&B, with a dash of Hip-Hop, and features Jon Smith on bass and Estratos on drums.
For more information, check the official website.
