Have an amazing weekend without opening your wallet! For even more activity inspiration, check out our Weekend Planner.
Friday, September 22
Square Dance
5-10pm
Bryant Park
All Ages
Bring the entire family to Bryant Park for a evening of dancing, live bands, giveaways, and much more. Bryant Park will be hosting another year of square dancing in the park. If this will be your first time square dancing, don’t worry–previous experience is not needed and neither is a partner. In between dancing, enjoy the other activities including a mechanical bull, a cowboy hat giveaway, trick-roping, lassoing, and corn hole. Food and drink will be available for purchase and complimentary bag check will be available.
Drumming in the Dark: Autumn Equinox Celebration
6:30pm
Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn
All Ages
Bring your drums and percussion instruments to Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza to celebrate the Autumn Equinox. Dogs are welcome.
Saturday, September 23
Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day Live
9am
Participating museums across NYC
All Ages
Smithsonian Magazine is hosting its annual Museum Day Live! The celebration offers free admission for two people at a wide variety of museums and institutions. Check out its website for a list of participating museums.
Family Music Day: From Celtic to Classical
10am
The DiMenna Center for Classical Music
Ages 4 and up
Spend a day absorbing and learning about historical Celtic and Classical music with the entire family. Children and adults can listen to orchestral and traditional Irish music and enjoy performances from students of the Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Darrah Carr Dance, members of the Irish Arts Center, and members of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Participants can even make their own instruments to take home and create art at the coloring center. Reservations are recommended.
Harlem Grown’s Fall Harvest Fair
10am-3pm
Harlem Grown
All Ages
Enjoy Harlem’s biggest day of harvest at the Harlem Grown’s Fall Harvest Fair. Admire some of the city’s freshest produce including squash, pumpkins, and leafy greens. When you’re done picking your favorite vegetable, take part in the scavenger hunt that expands across three urban farm locations, cooking demos, arts and crafts and more.
LC Kids at the Atrium Season Launch
11am
Lincoln Center
Ages 2-5
Help Lincoln Center Kids kick off their season of free programming at the David Rubenstein Atrium. Begin the day with say-along stories with children’s author Todd Tarpley. Then get up and dance with the NYC-based band Spanglish Fly. Move as they take you on a journey through Latin Boogaloo, a musical and dance craze familiar to Spanish Harlem in the 1960’s.
2017 NYC Honey Fest
11am-6pm
Rockaway Beach, Queens
All Ages
Rockaway Beach will be buzzin’ this Saturday during the 7th annual NYC Honey Fest! This year, this bee-utiful festival will feature honey tastings from local hives such as Andrew’s Honey, Irish Bee, Brooklyn Grange, Honey Gramz, and others. Activities for children include face painting, bee-hat and costume making, honey extraction demos, interactive activity stations, a honey-tasting contest, and a raffle.
2nd Annual Lighthouse Point Fest
12-6pm
National Lighthouse Museum, Staten Island
All Ages
The second annual Lighthouse Point Fest will be held at the National Lighthouse Museum. The day will be full of food, music, and crafts with plenty of maritime character. There will even be a clam chowder contest! This event will take place rain or shine.
[gravityform id=”14″ title=”false” description=”false” ajax=”true”]
House Party: BK to the Future
12-5pm
BRIC House, Brooklyn
All Ages
Bring the entire family to Brooklyn for the best family block party in the city. Join the BRIC Arts Media House in a day of games, arts and crafts, and dancing. Adults and children alike can look forward to a scavenger hunt, a lesson on making your own stop motion animation photo montage, a lesson on making your own futuristic fashion-forward clothing line, your own pop-up book, and your own mixed-media sculpture, a Minecraft meet-up, and a disco party for all ages. Reservations are required.
Astor Alive Performing Arts Festival
1-6pm
Astor Place
All Ages
For a day of creativity, visit the annual Astor Alive Performing Arts Festival. Don’t miss performances by Blue Man Group Drum-Off, Bowery Poetry, Joe’s Pub at the Public, and others. Enjoy the many free performances from one of the two stages or the many workshops, activities, and pop-ups.
Breukelen Country Fair
1-5pm
Wyckoff House Museum, Brooklyn
All Ages
Take a step back in time and learn all about “Breukelen” with puppet shows, face painting, arts and crafts, tours of the oldest house in New York City, and much more. Head to the Wyckoff House Museum in East Flatbush for more activities including pony rides, Caribbean Dancing, demonstrations of fiber arts and wampum making, and children’s races. Don’t miss out on a day of fun at one of the most historical places in New York City. Please note: Admission is free; paid tickets are required for some activities and food.
Sunday, September 24
African Film Festival, Inc.’s 10th Annual Family Fun Day Celebration
11am-5pm
Governors Island
All Ages
Visit Governors Island for the 10th annual African American Film Festival, Inc.’s Family Fun Day Celebration. Families can enjoy a captivating, free, fun-packed day filled with music, film, and dance as well as activities including story-telling, double-dutch, dancing and drumming, needlepoint, and short films all celebrating African American culture.
43rd Annual Atlantic Antic
12-6pm
Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn
All Ages
Enjoy a day of nonstop music, bands, and live programming at the 43rd Annual Atlantic Antic. Come out to hear music from The Unique Band, Eddie “The Sheik” Koshak, The Brooklyn Marching Band, and many more but stay to participate in or observe the Dumpling Eating Contest. This event will take place rain or shine.
24th Annual Bus Festival
12-6pm
New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn
All Ages
An annual NYC classic, the New York Transit Museum’s Bus Festival provides the perfect opportunity to introduce children to vintage city buses. This day-long fest will feature more than a dozen vehicles including “Betsy,” a double decker bus from the ’30s, 1958’s Bus 9098, which was the first bus in the city equipped with sliding windows, and the Tunnel Wrecker, an emergency vehicle designed to remove disabled buses and cars out of tunnels. Remember, admission to the Transit Museum is only $1 (per person) all day!
The 15th Annual Moon Festival and Parade
12-5pm
Mott Street, Manhattan’s Chinatown
All Ages
Come out to enjoy a night of celebration and activities at the 15th Annual Moon Festival and Parade. An important traditional Chinese, the Annual Moon Festival celebrates the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. Admire the big moon while enjoying elaborate and delicious moon cakes and lighting pretty and festive paper lanterns. The night also includes booths and cultural stage performances. Head to the heart of Chinatown for a night of traditional festivities.
Fall Family Day: Rhythms of Latin America
12-4pm
Carnegie Hall
All Ages
Drop by Carnegie Hall for a free interactive journey through Latin American music. Enjoy learning the different styles of music and dancing Latin America has created or popularized including bomba and plena, capoeira, salsa, joropo, and cumbia. Also learn how to make your own instruments from recycled material and more. Admission will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.
