The lights of Bowne Printers at 209 Water St. shone invitingly through the darkness on Nov. 19 as scores of people walked through the tall, heavy door of Bowne's mid-19th-century building for a "Wayzgoose."

Bowne Printers and Bowne Stationers, both on Water Street, are part of the South Street Seaport Museum. A "Wayzgoose," Capt. Jonathan Boulware, interim president of the museum, told the guests, was historically a celebration that marked the changing of the seasons in the printing trade. It took place when the days grew darker and it became necessary to work by candlelight.

"We're also having a changing of the seasons at the Seaport Museum," Boulware said. "We're looking at the next phase of this museum's life as a manifestation of the best bits that we've had in the past."  

 

He said that it was "a commonly held misconception that the Seaport Museum has always been hanging on by its fingernails. Not true. And not true in a very key area and that is education, public programs and community involvement."

 

Those would be the "foundational elements" guiding the future of the South Street Seaport Museum, he said. "To the extent that we have ships or collection items or printing presses - all of those things are meant to support that community engagement and the public programs and the education programs that this museum has done very, very well and that's what we're looking to in the future."

Some of the guests at the Wayzgoose.

The museum is now engaged in a "feasibility study" to see what it can best do given its resources. It has a tiny staff and many dedicated volunteers, who give their time regularly to work on the ongoing needs of the museum's historic ships. Some of those ships, said Boulware, are in good shape right now after extensive shipyard work. 

 

This past season, the lightship Ambrose was open for the first time in four years. The 1893 schooner Lettie G. Howard was sailing again. The Pioneer was on the water for its third season after a one-year hiatus - her 129th year as a working vessel. There were numerous education programs on the waterfront, at Bowne Printers and in the museum's otherwise shuttered buildings on Fulton Street, where a program called "Mini-Mates" for small children met.   

 

But, said Boulware, "In the context of what's happening in the district, we know that we need to be leaner. We need to have a more manageable size of ships. Some of the ships have needs that number well over $10 million and in one case, probably more than $20 million."

  

The 1885 iron-hulled sailing ship, Wavertree, will be going to shipyard, probably in March, and will return dramatically refurbished but without her top masts. "We'll need to fund raise - probably seven figures - to get her fully rigged the way she was in 2000," said Boulware. 

   

He pointedly said nothing about the museum's land-side real estate. The electrical system in the museum's Schermerhorn Row galleries on Fulton Street was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy on Oct. 29, 2012 and has still not been repaired - although repairs have been made in other parts of Schermerhorn Row. Consequently, without air conditioning or adequate heating, the museum's galleries on Fulton Street have been closed since April 2013.  

 

In its most recent proposal for South Street Seaport development, The Howard Hughes Corporation has said that it would develop 202-year-old Schermerhorn Row into affordable housing as part of a package that includes erecting a 494-foot-tall luxury apartment tower on the Seaport waterfront, next to the Brooklyn Bridge.    

  

Howard Hughes also proposed building a 5,000-square-foot facility for the South Street Seaport Museum on one of the piers.  

 

Nothing was said either by Boulware or by Howard Hughes about the museum's Water Street properties.   

 

But Boulware said he was "optimistic."  

 

"Mayor de Blasio has said that the Seaport Museum is very important to him and that he wants it to be preserved," Boulware told the Wayzgoose guests. "That means a lot to me - that he said that."  

 

 

The latest Howard Hughes Corp. proposal for South Street Seaport redevelopment still includes tearing down the New Market building (shown here) and replacing it with a high-rise tower on the Seaport waterfront next to the Brooklyn Bridge. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Ice skating is back in Lower Manhattan, with rinks at Brookfield Place overlooking North Cove Marina in Battery Park City and in the South Street Seaport on Fulton Street.

The 7,350-square-foot Brookfield Place rink opened on Nov. 21. The South Street Seaport rink, sponsored by The Howard Hughes Corporation, opened on Nov. 15 and will remain open through Feb. 23, 2015. Both rinks are open daily, weather permitting. When the temperature dips below 22 degrees in the evening, the rink at Brookfield Place will be closed.

On opening weekend at Brookfield Place, a gaggle of children and a few of their elders took to the ice in the wan light of the wintry sun for what was, for some, their first skate of the 2014 season and for others, clearly their first skate ever. The littlest ones were held up by their parents. The older kids scooted around the rink with frequent spills that seemed to have no obvious deleterious effects. This is a rink suitable for family and recreational skating. "No racing," said a voice over the loud speaker as the gates opened, "and please all skate in the same direction." (Not that everyone did.)

The Brookfield Place rink is open on weekdays from 1 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and on weekends, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The rates are $15 for a single session (1.5 hours); skate rental, $5; single season pass, $200; and family season pass, $500 for a family of three and $100 for each additional family member

Parties on the ice, group rates and private skating sessions are available.

Hudson Eats, with its numerous options for food and beverages, is steps away from the ice skating rink.

To learn more about the Ice Rink at Brookfield Place, email info@therinkatbrookfieldplace.com,  call (646) 656-1384 or click here.

The South Street Seaport ice skating rink has been set up atop the cobblestones of Fulton Street. The rink is larger than it was last year, extending from Water Street, where the South Street Seaport's Bowne Stationers and Bowne Printers shops are located, to the northern end of Schermerhorn Row.

An inflatable cube for music performances that last year was west of the ice rink has now been moved to its eastern end to accommodate the residents of Southbridge Towers, just west of Water Street, who said that last year they were bothered by the loud music.

In addition to recreational skating, the South Street Seaport rink will present some special events. On Saturdays, there will be "vintage skating parties" like those of the 1920s with music and entertainment by Dandy Wellington. Tuesday nights in December from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., curling lessons will be offered. Curling, a sport that originated in Scotland, involves sliding heavy, polished stones across the ice toward a target area.

The rink is open Mondays to Thursdays, noon to 9 p.m., Fridays, noon to 10 p.m., Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

General admission is $10 with no charge for children 5 and under. Skate rentals are $6; helmet rentals, $6; bag check, $8; skate sharpening, $12. These prices include sales tax and are subject to change. Lower Manhattan residents living in zip codes 10038, 10004, and 10005 with valid ID get 50 percent off admission, skate rental and helmet rental prices.

Package prices are also available. A "Family 4-pack" costs $60 plus an optional $10 for drink vouchers and $20 for snack vouchers. The basic package includes rink admission, skate rentals and bag check service for four guests, with no reservation required.

Season membership passes to the ice rink range in price from $70 for students, seniors and children under 18 to $280 for a family of three plus $40 for each additional family member. These passes include unlimited admission to the skating rink, bag check service and 10 percent off private skating lessons, concession purchases and skate sharpening.

For more information about the South Street Seaport ice skating rink, click here.

Women playing mah jongg at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City. The museum is hosting a mah jongg tournament on Dec. 7. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Lights by Tangeez for sale at Out to See, an art, crafts and music fair in the South Street Seaport. Nov. 23 is the last day. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)