Your weekend plans begin here, with a couple of dozen FREE and cheap things to do this final weekend of April, including NYC Car Free Day, Holocaust Remembrance Day and the Sakura Matsuri cherry blossom festival.
Everything we suggest is $25 or less, and most are FREE and family-friendly, so you can enjoy more NYC for less money.
That just happens to be the NYC on the Cheap motto – get more NYC for less money.
There’s so much to see and do in NYC and never enough time to see and do it all.
Let’s hope the weather cooperates with outdoor events. But if it doesn’t, here are some rainy day activities in NYC, besides re-arranging your sock drawer.
Know before you go:
Weekend street and bridge closures
See also
FREE museum admission on weekends
Best way to get FREE tickets for The Vessel at Hudson Yards
Best places in NYC to enjoy cherry blossoms
Today, Friday in NYC
Financial Planning Day at the NYPL
FREE financial advice, workshops and and one-on-one appointments with financial experts in a wide-range of life issues. Financial Planning Day is an opportunity for all New Yorkers to take control of their finances and plan for future success.
- Professional counselors are available for one-on-one appointments to address challenging personal situations such as credit card debt and Medicare
- Representatives from government and non-profit organizations will be on-site to provide information relating to financial empowerment
- Workshops, taught by financial experts, begin at 10:30am and continue throughout the day
- Library staff will offer tutorials for NYPL’s business databases, such as Bloomberg and Morningstar
10am to 5pm at the Science Industry and Business Library, 188 Madison Ave. (for longtime New Yorkers, that’s the old B. Altman Building)
Click here for more information about Financial Planning Day.
Saturday in NYC
NYC Car Free Day
To celebrate Earth Day this weekend, NYC once again is closing some streets to cars.
The NYC Car Free Day has been expanded for 2019 to include sections of all five boroughs being closed to motorized vehicles, to allow pedestrians and cyclists to roam free and ride free, between 9am to 3pm.
As in previous years, 30 blocks of Broadway between Times Square and Union Square will be car free. And there will be environmental programs and nonprofit organizations on-site along the nearly two-mile route to to educate walkers and cyclists about climate change and sustainability.
There are additional car free zones in Manhattan, also with entertainment and educational events, sponsored by local organizers.
Click here for the complete list of location s and events
Closing Sunday
New York International Auto Show
This is your last chance to kick the tires at he annual extravaganza celebrating our ongoing love affair with the open road
See more than 1,000 cars, trucks and SUVs, look at new technology, drive a racecar – virtually, of course – and a lot more.
NYCOTC Editor Evelyn Kanter got a preview earlier this week. These are my choices for must-see exhibits:
Subaru – focusing on its support of the National Park Service, with park videos on a 20-foot high screen, and a 2020 Outlander emerging from a recreation of Old Faithful.
Camp Jeep – an off-road course where you can drive a Rubicon or Grand Cherokee over obstacles to test your driving skill.
Exotics Stand – drool over Lamborghini, Bugatti and others with huge horsepower and matching huge prices
Saratoga Auto Museum – a display of vintage sportscars.
See Also
NY Auto Show Technology
NY Auto Show Sportscars and Convertibles
NY Auto Show Family Cars and SUVs
NY Auto Show Supercars
Germ City: Microbes and the Metropolis
Explore the complex and fascinating history of infectious disease and epidemic outbreaks in New York City is explored through digital interactives and historical artifacts alongside contemporary artworks by artists such as Jordan Eagles, Mariam Ghani, and Ekene Ijeoma.
It’s extemely timely considering the outbreak of the infectious disease measles in New York City and nationwide, because of un-vaccnated people.
- At the Museum of the City of New York, Fifth Ave. at 103rd St., through Sunday
Saturday and Sunday in NYC
Sakura Matsuri
This is is the annual cherry blossom festival is celebrated both in Japan and in NYC, where the largest annual festival is in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.
It’s two days of music and dance performances, including Taiko drumming, martial arts demonstrations, activities for the kids including a parade, flower arranging, a tea ceremony, and a marketplace for Japanese textiles and gift items.
Sunday in NYC
Annual Gathering of Remembrance
Never forget.
The Annual Gathering of Remembrance, New York’s largest Holocaust commemoration event, is Sunday, April 28, at Temple Emanu-El, in observance of Yom HaShoah, honoring the six million souls lost in Europe’s WWII concentration camps and Jewish ghettos.
Sign up here for free tickets to this always moving event.
- 2pm to 4pm at Temple Emanu-El, Fifth Ave. at 67th St.
Through Tuesday
Win a Trip to Hawaii With Your MetroCard
Buy a special edition MetroCard sponsored by the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau and you could be on your way to a FREE vacation in paradise.
The speciial edition cards are available at nearly one dozen stations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. All you have to do is check back of the card and input the number on www.hawaii.nyc for a chance to win.
The sweepstakes is open through April 30, and winners will be chosen on Wednesday, May 8.
It’s worth the price of a new Metrocard for a chance to win.
Partciipating subway station are:
In Manhattan:
- Fulton St. (A, C, J, Z, 2, 3, 4, 5)
- Broadway & Lafayette at Houston (B, D, F, M)
- 14th St. and Union Square (L, N, Q, R, W, 4, 5, 6)
- 23rd St. at Eighth Ave. (C, E)
- 59th St. at Columbus Circle (A, B, C, D, 1)
- 72nd St. and Broadway (1, 2,3)
- 86th St. and Lexington Ave. (4, 5, 6)
In Brooklyn:
- Atlantic Ave-Barclays Ctr. 9B, Q, 2, 3, 4, 5)
China Chic
Chinese design has influenced the West for millennia. To shine a spotlight on contemporary Chinese creativity in fashion, beauty, and lifestyle, visit this FREE China Chic Pop showcase.
There are products from 20 unique brands at a variety of price points plus special Made in China gift items to purchase. The first 60 visitors each day receive a free gift.
- Daily, 10am to 8pm, in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall.
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