Kings County is getting chile!
Brooklyn Botanic Garden bigwigs are inviting locals to spice up their weekend by savoring zesty snacks, sizzling-hot musical acts, and pepper-themed art at the green space’s annual Chile Pepper Festival on Sept. 29.
This year, the well-seasoned bash returns to the Crown Heights horticultural museum for its 26th event, which will feature some 40 mom-and-pop purveyors of peppery foods, including hot sauces and salsas, as well as chocolates and sweets with an unexpected dose of heat.
A half-dozen musical acts from around the country and world will set the tune for the day-long festival, while a small army of local muralists will get creative with the theme by producing artworks featuring the red-hot fruit.
And the celebration of chiles won’t be the only heated event at the Botanic Garden on Saturday — a fiery group of anti-gentrification advocates plans to rally outside its Washington Avenue entrance between noon and 2 pm, protesting garden leaders’ refusal to take a public stand against a controversial plan to rezone lots on nearby Franklin Avenue, where developers want to erect massive towers that could block hours of sunlight from the growing patch each day.
Get your spice on at the Chile Pepper Festival at Brooklyn Botanic Garden (990 Washington Avenue at Crown Street in Crown Heights, www.bbg.org). Sept. 29, from 11 am to 6 pm. $25 ($20 students and seniors; free for members and kids under 12).
