An Open Mic in the Open Air at Duane Park in Tribeca

Darby Steininger sings "House of the Rising Sun" during Family Open Mic Night in Duane Park. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

The sounds of music and cheerful hoots and applause filled the miraculously balmy evening air last Friday as the first Family Open Mic Night was held in Tribeca’s Duane Park. Answering the call for local performers, nearly two dozen of them—kids mostly but not all—stepped up to the microphone to display their talents before friends and family and those lucky enough to be passing by.

“To have an audience of your neighbors made for a very fun Friday night,” said Jennifer Nevins, a board member of Friends of Duane Park, which organized the event.

Danny Guzman (aka Mr. Don Suave) emceed the show, with guitarist Wilson Montuori and Frank Picarazzi on keyboard backing up the singers. Montuori, who has been teaching at the Church Street School for Music and Art since 1998, also plays annually at the park’s Earth Day celebration. Last spring he brought along a couple of students to perform and that sparked the idea for an open mic night.

“We saw the response to having the kids sing, and the parents like to come,” Nevins said, noting that like the spring celebration and summer swing dance night, “it would be a great use of the park.”

In the future, Nevins expects even more talent to sign up. “We’re definitely going to do it again,” she said. “People enjoyed it.”