Sat Apr 28, 12:00 pm

The Extravaganza is a three-day, all-ages expo featuring historically-focused classes, hands-on experiences, and performances highlighting nineteenth-century life in New York City.

The festival will be held at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn and the Greater Astoria Historical Society.

A number of Saturday’s activities will take place at the Greater Astoria Historical Society, at 35-20 Broadway, on the fourth floor. These will include a hand-sewing class on stitching techniques prior to the advent of the sewing machine in 1854, as well as a talk on “Victorian Unmentionables,” in which costume historian Christine Scott will demonstrate both the literal and figurative hoops that Victorian ladies had to jump through to stay fashionable.

Historian Bob Diamond will give a lecture about Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue Tunnel, which was built over seven months in 1844, making it the world’s oldest subway tunnel — and which he has been pushing to have reopened after it was recently closed to the public.

Full details about the Queens events and the extravaganza’s other activities can be found at nyncs.wordpress.com/schedule-of-events/.

These programs are supported by public funds form the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and NYC Council Member Peter Vallone, Jr. Additional support provided by the membership of the Greater Astoria Historical Society.