The Park Sloper
Issue #11 · August 6, 2026
Park Slope this week: CHiPS doubles its pantry, Caputo comes back with bagels on Fifth, and globalFEST at the Bandshell
CHiPS has run its food pantry out of Fourth Avenue since 1971. This month it took about 4,000 square feet in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, its first expansion in 55 years, and the reason is not a happy one: pantry visits across the city are up 84% since 2019.
The lighter news runs on Fifth Avenue, where James Caputo is coming back with a bagel shop four months after closing the family bakery on Court Street. Here's the week.
Victor, founding editor
01 · This week
CHiPS takes a Navy Yard warehouse, aims to feed twice as many
Community Help in Park Slope has worked out of Fourth Avenue, on the Gowanus line, since 1971. It now has roughly 4,000 square feet in the Brooklyn Navy Yard with five industrial refrigerators and two freezers, and expects to go from about 700 households a week to more than 1,500 within the year. Last year CHiPS moved 207,000 meals and 34,000 pantry bags on 46,000 volunteer hours. City Harvest counts one in four city children as food insecure.
Brooklyn Paper · CHiPS, 4th Ave · Jul 31
Caputo comes back, this time with bagels at 81 Fifth Avenue
James Caputo closed his family's Carroll Gardens bakery in April after more than a century on Court Street. On the toll of running it he told the Gazette, "There was no rest for me, no off switch." He's back with Rafael "Rafi" Hasid of Miriam, the Mediterranean restaurant that's been in Park Slope twenty years with three more in Manhattan. Caputo Bagels takes over the Miriam Street Food space, selling sourdough bagels as breakfast and open-faced sandwiches plus the pastries Caputo regulars will know. Court Street Journal puts the opening in the fall.
Grand Army Gazette · 81 5th Ave
02 · Worth a visit
Fri Aug 7 · 5pm ET · Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park · Free
globalFEST takes the Bandshell on Friday, free
BRIC's Celebrate Brooklyn! gives Friday night to globalFEST, with DakhaBrakha, Yeison Landero, Sally Baby's Silver Dollars, and Sunju Park. It runs 5 to 10 at the Lena Horne Bandshell and costs nothing, which is the entire point of the longest-running free outdoor arts festival in the city.
03 · One vetted pick
Best for brownstone and walk-up moves · FMCSA carrier verified · from our movers guide
The walk-up specialist. A small crew based on Prospect Avenue, built around the job this neighborhood actually hands you: four flights, no elevator, tight turns, and nowhere to park the truck. Registered carrier under USDOT 2874171 with active operating authority, and a repeat pick on NY Magazine's best-movers lists. Skip them for a big house or a cross-country haul. This is an apartments-and-brownstones outfit and it's honest about that.
Leases turn over September 1, which means the movers worth having are spoken for by mid-August. This week's pick is from our movers guide: every mover on it is a registered household-goods carrier with active FMCSA operating authority, not a broker, and nobody paid to be there.
See the pick →04 · The calendar
Fri Aug 7 · 6pm ET · LeFrak Center at Lakeside · Ticketed
Glide and Groove: The Happy Fits and Stolen Gin
Indie rock down at the rink, with Hojean opening. Runs to 10.
Sat Aug 8 · 8am to 4pm ET · Grand Army Plaza · Free
Greenmarket at Grand Army Plaza
The Saturday market at the plaza, going since 1989. Takes EBT, WIC, and Senior FMNP coupons year-round, and stays open till 4 if you are slow off the mark.
Sat Aug 8 · 12pm to 4pm ET · LeFrak Center at Lakeside · Free
Stay and Play, Pond Water Discovery, and Nature on the Go, set up for families and whoever got roped into the afternoon.
Sat Aug 8 · 3pm ET · Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park · Free
BRIC Celebrates Aaliyah: One in a Million
The Bandshell's second free night of the weekend, this one built around Aaliyah's One in a Million.
Sun Aug 9 · 11am ET · meets at Grand Army Plaza
Battle of Brooklyn Walking Tour
Green-Wood walks the Continental Army's retreat from Grand Army Plaza down to the Old Stone House, with a snack and a private gallery tour at the end. Assembles across from the Arch.