Your weekend plans begin here, with a couple of dozen FREE and cheap things to do this almost-Autumn weekend. Free and cheap things to see and do including the final days of $20 Off-Broadway tickets, the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy, and the annual Photoville show in Brooklyn.
The NYC on the Cheap weekend list is $25 or less, and most things are FREE, so you can enjoy NYC more for less money.
Unless otherwise noted, street fairs are 10am to 6pm, rain or shine, so let’s hope for shine.
So much to see and do and so little time.
September calendar of free and cheap things to do
Ending Sunday
20at20 – Get $20 tickets for Off-Broadway shows, for matinee and evening performances, through Sept. 23
Photoville – The annual FREE photography festival is back in Brooklyn Bridge Park for its seventh season, bigger and better than before, featuring work by more than 600 visual artists, plus dozens of seminars and and workshops, outdoor projection shows and more. There are nearly 100 themed exhibitions housed in and around a collection of 50+ repurposed shipping containers. Through Sept. 23.
Feast of San Gennaro – This eleven-day street party in Little Italy is Sept 13-23, with food, games, food, music, food, dancing, and more food. More than 100 local vendors include some of the best of Little Italy’s restarants, including Lombardi’s, Cannoli King, Ferraro pastries. The party covers ten blocks on Mulberry Street between Canal and Houston, daily 11:30am to 11pm. There’s a cannoli eating competition on Friday, and a meatball eating competition next Friday, and in between, concerts are nightly at 7:30pm at the Grand Street stage. Thr
Let’s hope the weather cooperates with all the outdoor events.
And if it doesn’t, here are some rainy day activities in NYC, besides re-arranging your sock drawer.
Friday in NYC
Square Dancing in Bryant Park – Do-si-do and away we go. You don’t need a partner to have fun. Besides square dancing, you can try your luck at rope tricks and more. Starting at 5pm
Freebie Friday – FREE admission to NYC museums including MOMA. No passes or coupons needed. Just go.
Get FREE admission to more than a dozen NYC museums with the IDNYC card. Enrollment is also FREE.
Freebie Friday: Family Fridays at MoMath – Solve puzzles, family-style, and learn how math affects everything, from music to space flight. 6:30pm, FREE The National Museum of Mathematics is at 11 E. 26th St.
Freebie Friday – Grand Central Neighborhood Tour. FREE every Friday at 12:30, docents from the Grand Central Partnership guide you through the history of the fabled Grand Central Terminal and some equally-fabled nearby landmarks including the Chrysler Building. There are no tickets, no reservations. Just meet at Sculpture court at 120 Park Avenue (southwest corner of East 42nd Street). Tour is 90 minutes.
Saturday in NYC
Saturday and Sunday in NYC
36th Annual Queens County Fair – This traditional county fair boasts blue ribbon competitions* in produce, livestock, arts & crafts, and more. Enjoy pie eating and corn husking contests, pig races, hayrides, carnival rides, midway games, stilt walkers and more, including recycling tips at the Con Edison Ecology booth. Visit the Oktoberfest Bavarian beer garden featuring traditional live music and dance, check out craft and food vendors, and get recycling tips at the Con Edison Ecology booth. This is also opening weekend of The Amazing Maize Maze For additional event details, see FAQs.
- 11am to 6pm both days. Admission is $10, and $5 for children 12 and under. At the Queens County Farm Museum.
Sunday in NYC
Museum Exhibits Worth Noting
Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow examines the meaning of citizenship for African Americans following the abolition of slavery, through Reconstruction and the rise of the Jim Crow era. By 1868, all persons born in the United States were citizens and equal before the law, but efforts to create an interracial democracy were contested from the start. A harsh backlash ensued, ushering in the “separate but equal” age of Jim Crow. Marking the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment and featuring art, artifacts, photographs and media, the exhibition highlights the central role played by African Americans in advocating for their rights and also examines the depth and breadth of opposition to black advancement. Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow is part of New-York Historical’s new initiative to dedicate rotating gallery space to covering topics of freedom, equality, and civil rights in America.
- New York Historical Society, Central Park West at 76th St., through early 2019.
Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color – FREE exhibition organized by the museum’s director and chief curator, Dr. Valerie Steele. Pink features approximately 80 ensembles from the 18th century to the present, with examples by designers and brands such as Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Alessandro Michele of Gucci, Jeremy Scott of Moschino, and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. The exhibition is organized by the museum’s director and chief curator, Dr. Valerie Steele, and will be accompanied by a book published by Thames & Hudson- The Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology), Seventh Ave. at 27th St., through early January 2019.
SEE ALSO
You now get FREE admission to more than 30 NYC museums and cultural institutions with the new CulturePass. It’s a new perk to use with your library card from the NYPL, Brooklyn Museum or Queens Museum systems.
Let’s hope the weather cooperates with all the outdoor events.
And if it doesn’t, here are some rainy day activities in NYC, besides re-arranging your sock drawer.
Some More Things to See and Do
Best NYC rooftop bars with a breeze and a view
Discount tickets for NYC harbor cruises with cool breezes and great views
What to do on a rainy day in NYC
NYC isn’t expensive when you know where to go and what to do, and we do. And we love to share.
The NYCOTC Free & Cheap Weekend Guide is $25 or less, with an occasional splurge because we deserve to treat ourselves once in a while.
- Unless a price is noted, our weekend list is FREE, but we usually remind you anyway.
- Unless otherwise noted, outdoor events are rain or shine, so let’s hope for shine.
- Street fairs are 11am to 6pm, unless otherwise noted.
Getting Around NYC – Know Before You go
FREE apps on subway track work and schedulng delays – Know what trains are bypassing what stations so you aren’t late for one of these free and cheap weekend events.
SEE ALSO Manhattan subway stations closed through Autumn 2018 for repairs
NYC official street closures website – Know what streets are closed when for street fairs, parades, political protests and more.
2018 NYC parking calendar – Know when you have to move your car, or not.
Where to eat at LaGuardia Airport – Top NYC restaurants and cafes are replacing fast food joints.
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Every Friday in NYC
Freebie Friday – FREE admission to NYC museums including MOMA. No passes or coupons needed. Just go.
Get FREE admission to more than a dozen NYC museums with the IDNYC card. Enrollment is also FREE.
Freebie Friday: Family Fridays at MoMath – Solve puzzles, family-style, and learn how math affects everything, from music to space flight. 6:30pm, FREE The National Museum of Mathematics is at 11 E. 26th St.
Freebie Friday – Grand Central Neighborhood Tour. FREE every Friday at 12:30, docents from the Grand Central Partnership guide you through the history of the fabled Grand Central Terminal and some equally-fabled nearby landmarks including the Chrysler Building. There are no tickets, no reservations. Just meet at Sculpture court at 120 Park Avenue (southwest corner of East 42nd Street). Tour is 90 minutes.
Every Saturday in NYC
FREE Saturday admission at top NYC museums every Saturday all year includes the Jewish Museum and the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum.
Every Sunday in NYC
FREE Sunday admission at top NYC museums including Morgan Library and Museum.
FREE Flatiron Walking Tour – Join professional guides on a 90-minute journey through this vibrant neighborhood, viewing some of the City’s most notable landmarks, including the New York Life Insurance Building, the MetLife Clock Tower, the Appellate Courthouse and the famous Flatiron Building. Every Sunday at 11am, rain or shine. No advance registration is required. Comfortable walking shoes are recommended.
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Also, check the list of best free things to do in NYC any day of the week, including weekends.
Enjoy your free and cheap NYC weekend.
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