The best free in New York City the weekend of Sep 25–27, 2026 — hand-curated and refreshed weekly.
71 picks · checked Sep 2
Boerum Hill, BrooklynDetroit Publishing Co. (w) , publisher. · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsBrooklyn's biggest and best-loved street festival marks its 51st year, taking over Atlantic Avenue for six hours of live music, food and hundreds of local businesses and vendors.
Boerum Hill, BrooklynDetroit Publishing Co. (w) , publisher. · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsBrooklyn's biggest and best-loved street festival marks its 51st year, taking over Atlantic Avenue for six hours of live music, food and hundreds of local businesses and vendors.
Mulberry Street, Little Italy, Little Italy, ManhattanMusikAnimal · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsThe feast's centrepiece: floats, celebrities and the gondola down Mulberry Street.
Mulberry Street, Little Italy, Little Italy, ManhattanMusikAnimal · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsThe feast's centrepiece: floats, celebrities and the gondola down Mulberry Street.
Central Park, ManhattanPhotograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsThe free, action-earned Global Citizen Festival returns to Central Park's Great Lawn with Ms. Lauryn Hill & Wyclef Jean, Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, Lainey Wilson, Shaboozey and TOMORROW X TOGETHER.
Central Park, ManhattanPhotograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsThe free, action-earned Global Citizen Festival returns to Central Park's Great Lawn with Ms. Lauryn Hill & Wyclef Jean, Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, Lainey Wilson, Shaboozey and TOMORROW X TOGETHER.
Brooklyn Borough Hall & venues citywide, Downtown Brooklyn, BrooklynJoann Jovinelly (editrrix) from NYC · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBrooklyn Book Festival kicks off nine days of free author talks and citywide Bookend events, building to the Northeast's biggest book market.
Brooklyn Borough Hall & venues citywide, Downtown Brooklyn, BrooklynJoann Jovinelly (editrrix) from NYC · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBrooklyn Book Festival kicks off nine days of free author talks and citywide Bookend events, building to the Northeast's biggest book market.
Jack Shainman Gallery, 46 Lafayette Street, Tribeca, ManhattanGordon Parks' civil-rights photographs return with new written reflections from the families of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X in a landmark Tribeca show.
Jack Shainman Gallery, 46 Lafayette Street, Tribeca, ManhattanGordon Parks' civil-rights photographs return with new written reflections from the families of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X in a landmark Tribeca show.
Theater District, ManhattanPhotograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsFor one Sunday a year Broadway sells itself off folding tables: shows and theater organizations line West 44th and West 45th Streets with posters, props and costume pieces, with a silent auction in Shubert.
Theater District, ManhattanPhotograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsFor one Sunday a year Broadway sells itself off folding tables: shows and theater organizations line West 44th and West 45th Streets with posters, props and costume pieces, with a silent auction in Shubert.
This list keeps changing as events are verified. We'll send you the final version the Thursday before — and you can unsubscribe right after if that's all you need.
Hauser & Wirth, 542 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, ManhattanKorean icon Lee Bul fills Hauser & Wirth with major new sculptures — cyborg bodies and glittering future ruins probing technology, nature and history.
Hauser & Wirth, 542 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, ManhattanKorean icon Lee Bul fills Hauser & Wirth with major new sculptures — cyborg bodies and glittering future ruins probing technology, nature and history.
Ditmas Park, BrooklynDetroit Publishing Co. (w) , publisher. · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsVictorian Flatbush's street fair, running since 1975, closes Cortelyou Road between Coney Island and Ocean Avenues for food booths, live music on multiple stages, a beer and wine garden, pony rides and.
Ditmas Park, BrooklynDetroit Publishing Co. (w) , publisher. · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsVictorian Flatbush's street fair, running since 1975, closes Cortelyou Road between Coney Island and Ocean Avenues for food booths, live music on multiple stages, a beer and wine garden, pony rides and.
Flushing, QueensDetroit Publishing Co. (w) , publisher. · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsThe USA International Dragon Lion Dance Cultural Festival shuts Main Street and Sanford Avenue for a China Day Mid-Autumn parade, sending dragon and lion troupes through the heart of downtown Flushing.
Flushing, QueensDetroit Publishing Co. (w) , publisher. · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsThe USA International Dragon Lion Dance Cultural Festival shuts Main Street and Sanford Avenue for a China Day Mid-Autumn parade, sending dragon and lion troupes through the heart of downtown Flushing.
Sunset Park, BrooklynPhotograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBrooklyn's Chinatown closes Eighth Avenue from 50th to 60th Street for its Mid-Autumn moon cake festival, a permitted street parade through the middle of Sunset Park's Chinese business district.
Sunset Park, BrooklynPhotograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBrooklyn's Chinatown closes Eighth Avenue from 50th to 60th Street for its Mid-Autumn moon cake festival, a permitted street parade through the middle of Sunset Park's Chinese business district.
The Drawing Center, SoHo, ManhattanEdward Lamson Henry · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsAsmaa Walton's 800-volume Black Art Library takes over The Drawing Center's bookstore as a free reading room. Closes Sunday.
The Drawing Center, SoHo, ManhattanEdward Lamson Henry · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsAsmaa Walton's 800-volume Black Art Library takes over The Drawing Center's bookstore as a free reading room. Closes Sunday.
Culture Lab LIC, Long Island City, QueensFree outdoor concerts in Culture Lab's Long Island City lot - two or three bands a night and the season closes this weekend.
Culture Lab LIC, Long Island City, QueensFree outdoor concerts in Culture Lab's Long Island City lot - two or three bands a night and the season closes this weekend.
Washington Heights, ManhattanDietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsThe American Academy of Arts and Letters reopens its Audubon Terrace galleries after a summer closure with a Yoshitaka Amano survey, alongside Arakawa and Madeline Gins' The Poetic Jump and a Christopher.
Washington Heights, ManhattanDietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsThe American Academy of Arts and Letters reopens its Audubon Terrace galleries after a summer closure with a Yoshitaka Amano survey, alongside Arakawa and Madeline Gins' The Poetic Jump and a Christopher.
Loreley Beer Garden, Lower East Side, ManhattanSix weeks of liter steins, twelve sausages and a heated Rivington Street garden, with free keg tappings Saturdays and a pig roast Sundays.
Loreley Beer Garden, Lower East Side, ManhattanSix weeks of liter steins, twelve sausages and a heated Rivington Street garden, with free keg tappings Saturdays and a pig roast Sundays.
Gagosian, 555 West 24th Street, Chelsea, ManhattanProvocateur Jordan Wolfson debuts a room of uniformly scaled new sculptures at Gagosian, each one built around found color and archival photographs.
Gagosian, 555 West 24th Street, Chelsea, ManhattanProvocateur Jordan Wolfson debuts a room of uniformly scaled new sculptures at Gagosian, each one built around found color and archival photographs.
El Museo del Barrio, East Harlem, ManhattanThe first major retrospective of Teddy Sandoval, a central figure of LA's queer Chicano avant-garde, opens at El Museo del Barrio for its New York run.
El Museo del Barrio, East Harlem, ManhattanThe first major retrospective of Teddy Sandoval, a central figure of LA's queer Chicano avant-garde, opens at El Museo del Barrio for its New York run.
MoMA PS1, Long Island City, QueensKing of Hearts · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsThree decades of Margolles's work on violence and its residue fills MoMA PS1's third floor, including a new commission.
MoMA PS1, Long Island City, QueensKing of Hearts · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsThree decades of Margolles's work on violence and its residue fills MoMA PS1's third floor, including a new commission.
Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor, Livingston, Staten IslandEpicgenius · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsThe museum's front lawn at Snug Harbor becomes an open-air gallery of Staten Island painters, potters and printmakers, plus a biergarten.
Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor, Livingston, Staten IslandEpicgenius · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsThe museum's front lawn at Snug Harbor becomes an open-air gallery of Staten Island painters, potters and printmakers, plus a biergarten.
Upper East Side, ManhattanPhotograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsClearview closes seventeen blocks of Lexington Avenue, from 79th to 96th Street, for one of the Upper East Side's largest street fairs.
Upper East Side, ManhattanPhotograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsClearview closes seventeen blocks of Lexington Avenue, from 79th to 96th Street, for one of the Upper East Side's largest street fairs.
Bay Ridge, BrooklynPhotograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBay Ridge's biggest street festival, run by the volunteer Merchants of Third Avenue, closes the length of Third Avenue through the neighbourhood for vendors, food and live music.
Bay Ridge, BrooklynPhotograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBay Ridge's biggest street festival, run by the volunteer Merchants of Third Avenue, closes the length of Third Avenue through the neighbourhood for vendors, food and live music.
Rego Park, QueensDetroit Publishing Co. (w) , publisher. · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsRego Park's fall street festival closes 63rd Drive between Queens Boulevard and Austin Street for food stalls, craft vendors and community tables.
Rego Park, QueensDetroit Publishing Co. (w) , publisher. · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsRego Park's fall street festival closes 63rd Drive between Queens Boulevard and Austin Street for food stalls, craft vendors and community tables.
Jackson Heights, QueensDetroit Publishing Co. (w) , publisher. · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsHispanic Heritage Month's Queens parade runs the length of 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, from 69th Street to 89th Street, with floats, bands, dance groups and community organisations.
Jackson Heights, QueensDetroit Publishing Co. (w) , publisher. · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsHispanic Heritage Month's Queens parade runs the length of 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, from 69th Street to 89th Street, with floats, bands, dance groups and community organisations.
Morningside Heights, ManhattanPhotograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBroadway closes between 110th and 116th Street for the Upper Broadway Fall Fair, six blocks of food and craft vendors through Morningside Heights.
Morningside Heights, ManhattanPhotograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBroadway closes between 110th and 116th Street for the Upper Broadway Fall Fair, six blocks of food and craft vendors through Morningside Heights.
Richmond Hill, QueensDetroit Publishing Co. (w) , publisher. · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsForest Park's community fair returns for its fifty-first year at the Buddy Monument, off Myrtle Avenue and Forest Park Drive, in a revived and expanded format.
Richmond Hill, QueensDetroit Publishing Co. (w) , publisher. · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsForest Park's community fair returns for its fifty-first year at the Buddy Monument, off Myrtle Avenue and Forest Park Drive, in a revived and expanded format.
This list keeps changing as events are verified. We'll send you the final version the Thursday before — and you can unsubscribe right after if that's all you need.
Big weekends coming up — save them now, plan later.
