NYC ToughPigs Outing: July 26

Back in the early years, when ToughPigs was still but a babe, Muppet fans were known to gather together in the spirit of brotherhood and fanaticism to discuss things of a Muppety nature whilst (and at the same time) enjoying the niceties that the outdoors has to offer. It's been a while since we've visited that tradition, so grab a frisbee, brownbag your lunch, and let's go island-hopping!

The first ToughPigs Outing of 2009 will be held in New York City on Sunday, July 26 on Governors Island. The Governors Island Ferry is directly to the left of the Staten Island Ferry (which you can reach via the 1, 4, 5, R, and W trains) and leaves Manhattan every hour on the hour (so plan on arriving early so you won't have to wait for the next ride). The ferry is free and only five minutes long.

We'll plan on being on the 11:00am ferry, so we'll meet either in the waiting room or on the boat around 10:30 (if you don't know what we look like, just look for a few blokes wearing Muppet t-shirts). Once on the island, we'll head straight to the Parade Ground, which is a large empty field with a few trees in the middle. We'll make the trees our home base for any latecomers.

Once we've settled, we'll eat some lunch (feel free to bring your own, or if you're feeling generous, bring something Muppety to share, like "Swedish Chef" meatballs, Munchos chips, or French Fried Frog's Legs), toss around the frisbee, fly some kites, play with puppets, and whatever else it is that people do in the outdoors. We encourage you to bring your own toys, puppets, cameras, or whatever else you can think of. To keep things relevant, we'll hold some Muppet trivia games, complete with prizes!

And what ToughPigs Outing would be complete without a visit from a Muppet Show guest star? Judy Collins will be joining us... kinda. She'll be performing a free concert on Gov's Island, and I'm sure once she finds out that we're all there, she'll put down her guitar and toss the frisbee around with us for a while. Judy's concert starts at 2:30 at Colonel's Row.

Even if you just want to stop by and say hi for a little and then ditch us, there's plenty to do on Governors Island. There's lot of pathways for exploring, bike rentals, kayaking, mini-golf, historical tours, and much more.

If you're in the New York area and are thinking about coming, drop by the ToughPigs forum or send me an e-mail. I'll send out an e-mail reminder as it gets a little closer to the 26th, and I'll keep you informed in case there are any weather issues. General questions (and answers) will be posted on the forum.

This event should be a blast! I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of our readers, and I hope you're not sorely disillusioned after meeting the faces behind ToughPigs.
Click here to chat about this upcoming event on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com