This summer artists, families in search of a quick escape from the city, and adventurers with a knack for nosing out New York’s best kept secrets will be boarding the free ferry that leaves from the Battery Maritime Building at the foot of Manhattan, as they have for the last few years, on their way to Governors Island, the former Coast Guard base that is being converted to public space and parkland through a unique alliance of the National Park Service and the city and state of New York.

The island opens for the season on May 30 with a Family Festival, and recreational programs and art exhibits continue through October. In June comes FIGMENT, the third annual celebration of “participatory art and culture” – more than 400 art projects that you can mix it up with in one way or another. Call it a guilty pleasure, but what I’m looking forward to most is FIGMENT’s miniature golf course, each hole designed by an artist. Last year’s course was only 9 holes – this year it’ll have a regulation 18!