freedom square

Garden, church, activist group work to make Troy block a destination point

By Kenneth C. Crowe II

TROY — The North Central block of Sixth Avenue between Glen and 101st streets is becoming an oasis in one of the city's poorest and overlooked neighborhoods.

This isn't a sudden blossoming, but a slowly evolving effort by The Sanctuary for Independent Media and other groups.

Whether it's the Collard City Growers community garden at mid­block, the Missing Link AME Zion Church at the corner of 101st Street where North Central and South Lansingburgh meet or the Sanctuary itself, momentum is building to move the neighborhood ahead. Also involved is Troy Bike Rescue in the block to the south.

The Circus of the Possibilitarians is a satirical horse and butterfly circus, addressing pertinent national and international issues in a clownish fashion, including rotten ideas, a wild dancing horse and some mellow lions, a solemn salute to the world’s casualties and much more!

The Dire Circumstance Jubilation Ensemble provides a little bit of brass and a lot of noise. Please take note that if some of the circus acts are politically puzzling to adults, accompanying children can usually explain them.

Join us for the last event of our Spring 2012 season--a spectacular free show to mark the Juneteenth holiday--this Saturday (June 16) from 3-7 PM in Freedom Square, our new outdoor space a few doors north of The Sanctuary for Independent Media.

Bring a chair or blanket!

There'll be lots of music, food, smoothies and more as we celebrate the struggle for freedom, equality, culture and community, and commemorate the day two years after the end of the Civil War when slaves in Texas finally learned that they were free. A luta continua...

Here's the lineup for Saturday's music:

• 3 PM S.K.A.T.E. (hip hop) 
• 4 PM The Heavenly Echoes (classic gospel)
• 5 PM The Ameros (rock) 
• 6 PM Shokazoba (Afrobeat) 

We're expecting Paul and Mary Stewart of the Underground Railroad History Project and local educator Norris Benbow to join us, plus we'll have a dj to make sure the music never stops. Our neighbors, including the Collard City Growers, Missing Link Street Ministry and Troy Bike Rescue, have joined with us to make this a memorable day... so bring your family and friends!

A coalition of local community groups launched Freedom Square–just up the block from the Sanctuary–with a free outdoor live music event on Saturday, July 2nd.  Headlined by a 10-piece Boston-based Ethiopian-influenced jazz and soul group, the Debo Band, the lineup also included rock, hip hop and gospel performances by local groups including Sumac, S.K.A.T.E., and the Missing Link Street Ministry Men's Choir.

Freedom Square is an urban cultural and spiritual oasis located at the mystical corner where 5th and 6th Avenues meet 101st Street a block from the Hudson River in North Troy, NY.  Map it!

We celebrated with an afternoon of great music as well as a free bike clinic, community barbecue, info tables, and more, to launch Freedom Square!