The New York Times, Arts, May 31, 2012

New York is a city of bridges, and majestic as those steel spans may be, they also bring noise, traffic and exhaust fumes. But on Saturday families can rediscover one that’s quiet, free of automobiles and leads to an island filled with more greenery than concrete. This bridge is made for walking.

Stretching from 103rd Street in East Harlem across the East River to Randalls Island Park, this aqua footbridge will officially reopen on Saturday after two years of renovation. Travelers who cross it that morning will arrive at “Go With the Flow,” a festival celebrating the bridge and“FLOW.12,” a new set of artworks for an installation that began last summer and that will occupy the island’s southern shore through the fall.

“It has to do with creativity and the water’s edge,” Aimee Boden, executive director of the Randalls Island Park Alliance, said of the festival’s name. “We wanted to combine the art opening and the bridge opening.”

Everything at the event, sponsored by the alliance, the Parks and Recreation Department, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts — including the artworks — will welcome children. For instance Nathan Gwynne’s piece, “Famous Faces of Randalls Island,” begs to be played with.

“Nathan selected some particular people of significance in the island’s history and has done cutouts where you can stick your face in,” Ms. Boden said. Those people include Jesse Owens, who ran there, and Jimi Hendrix, who played there. Gabriela Bertiller’s“Glamorous Picnic,” consisting of concrete tables covered in red and white tiles, can be dined at as well as admired.

The day also offers “a taste of what we do in our year-round programming,” Ms. Boden said. A literal taste: eating kale chips and making ice cream with the staff of the Learning Garden.

Other activities include tennis and soccer clinics, track events, wetland science investigations, catch-and-release fishing and art making.

And no island fun is complete without music. The Mariachi Academy of New York will play, and dance students will perform, going into the crowd “to get the kids moving,” Ms. Boden said.

Nothing says you can’t dance across a footbridge.

(10 a.m. to noon, East River Fields, Randalls Island Park, 212-830-7722,randallsisland.org/events/go-with-the-flow; free.)