NYC Car Free Day is the biggest street party of the year. Celebrate Earth Day on Saturday with dozens of FREE events along the 30-block route of Broadway between Union Square to Times Square that will be car-free, only for pedestrians and bicyclists.
NYC Car Free Day includes FREE bicycle and rollerblade rentals, fitness classes, climbing walls, guided walking tours, chess classes and more. Learn about beekeeping, recycling, sustainable energy.
Events are organizes into zones, and each zone has different freebies, including giveaways. There’s something on every block of the 30-block stretch, and everything is FREE and family-friendly.
There’s just too much happening to put it all into one posting, so we’ve broken it up in to two.
Here’s the full schedule, from the official NYC website, block-by-block, north from Herald Square to Times Square.
See also
NYC Car Free day events between Union Square and Flatiron.
Additional NYC Earth Day events Saturday and Sunday
Herald Square Rest Stop
6th Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets
Fitness Classes
| 11:00 am | Limon Dance Class Discover the freedom of movement with Limon Dance Company! Free dance classes open to all ages and abilities, no experience required. |
| 11:30 am | Limon Dance Class Discover the freedom of movement with Limon Dance Company! Free dance classes open to all ages and abilities, no experience required. |
| 12:00 pm | Jump Double Dutch Learn basic jump techniques in a fun and supportive environment from Double Dutch Empire’s experienced instructors. Instructors will teach participants the basics of double dutch jump rope including jumping in and out, basic jump tricks and turning the ropes. People of all ages and skill level are encouraged to join in! Let’s jump double dutch. |
Broadway Plaza
34th to 35th Streets
Fitness Classes
| 9:00 am | Sanctified Booty Fitness Sanctuary is a Boutique Fitness Studio offering unique, outstanding, high intensity and high energy fitness classes for all levels. This class is designed to strengthen your glutes (booty) and lower extremities. This class is open to all levels and we focus on proper form to get the benefit of every exercise while sweating it out to today’s hottest beats. |
| 10:00 am | Beginner’s Salsa Class Paul Pellicoro’s DanceSport is one of the largest dance studios on the East Coast, offering a variety of social & competitive partner dances, including Ballroom, (such as Waltz, Foxtrot, Swing, and Latin, including Salsa, Tango, Bachata. No partner necessary. |
| 11:00 am | ((305)) Fitness All cardio classes are 55 minutes long, with a focus on high-intensity rhythmic cardio, with sprint intervals, sculpting and a stretch cooldown, and torch between 500 – 900 calories per session, with moves including air humping and jumping jacks, all to a club-like playlist. Easy-to-follow and made for non-dancers and dancers alike. |
| 12:00 pm | Ratchet (Zooba) Fitness Our instructor’s watch and follow routines make this class all that you imagine yourself doing at the club when “your song” comes on in a safe and friendly environment. The best part about RATCHET FITNESS™ is that a workout comes with your party, complete with intermittent training that targets everything – abs, glutes, arms, and legs. If you love working out to hip-hop and love a high-intensity cardio workout, this class is for you |
| 1:00 pm | Hoopdance with Fitnotic Fitnotic specializes in fitness for moms and moms-to-be, with an expertise in core strengthening and diastasis recti. Hoopdance is a fun, safe and effective total body workout that targets core, and is ideal for everyone at all fitness levels, from children through grandparents. Absolutely no prior hula hooping or dance experience is necessary. |
| 2:00 pm | Ironstrength with Dr. Metzl + Zumba with Angelina Alfaro Join renowned sports medicine physician from Hospital for Special Surgery Dr. Jordan Metzl and his IronStrength community fitness program. He’ll throw down an IronStrength bootcamp class in the middle of Herald Square for 30 minutes, followed by a rocking Zumba class with Angelina Alfaro. Suitable for all ages and fitness levels. |
Broadway Plaza
35th to 36th Streets
Environmental Programming
Creating the Climate Museum: The Climate Museum, a start-up museum dedicated to creating a hub for climate engagement and leadership in NYC, will be holding an interactive photo station. Come share your ideas about why we need a Climate Museum and pick up some free swag!
The Earth Institute, Columbia Univerity
Ice Detectives: An X-Snow Mystery: Use snowflakes to better understand the planet and “Map My Emissions” that helps people understand the climate impacts of their transportation choices. Get information about our education and professional development programs and learn how the Earth Institute blends research in the physical and social sciences, education and practical solutions to help guide the world onto a path toward sustainability.
Zero Waste with Common Ground Compost: See Zero Waste in action! Common Ground Compost will help event attendees sort waste into “compost”, “recycling”, and “landfill” categories, educate about waste in NYC, and help raise awareness about the importance of waste reduction in everyday life.
Do Just 1 Thing: Stop by Earth Day Initiative to engage in fun trivia questions with energy and sustainability experts while learning how to live a green lifestyle!
Green Maps & Icons: Made locally across the city and around the world, all Green Maps share a lively iconography. Green Mapmakers is updating the set and wondering about the types of places and symbols that you want to see on the map. Pitch in with your ideas about what belongs on the Green Map!
Sir Real Coloring Workshop: NY Pop Artist/Author & founder of the Sir Real Juice Company MICHAEL ALBERT will be running an interactive Art booth, “Sir Real Coloring Workshop’ and Free Poster Giveaway & Signing where he will be drawing his Sir Real characters for participants to color in and in exchange for their time & interest he will be offering one of his limited edition modern pop art posters which he will be happy to sign & personalize.
NY League of Conservation Voters
Clean Buses for Healthy Niños: Kids have a right to breathe clean air. Clean School Buses can help! That’s why NYLCVEF has launched the Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign. We’re collaborating with national and state partners to spur the transition away from dirty diesel school buses and improve the health outcomes of children in environmental justice communities. Through grassroots community organizing, we’re urging state leaders to put the health of our kids and communities first by prioritizing New York’s Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust for clean electric school buses. Visit our booth to learn more about the campaign, participate in our clean bus photo contest, learn about the impacts of diesel exhaust on our health, and sign our petition supporting the transition to electric school buses.
HYPOTHEkids Water Bottle Planters: Come learn all about reusing and recycling as you build your very own planter out of a recycled water bottle and a sock! Kids will build their recycled water bottle planter, plant an herb seed, and then take it home and watch it grow! You and your family will have the tools to grow your own plants from home while taking care of our Earth by reusing materials!
CALL/City As Living Laboratory Featuring Bob Braine
Estuary Tattoos by artist Bob Braine provides as a platform to explore the parallels between the human circulatory system and that of regional wetland ecology. Conceived in collaboration with ecologists and biologists, this series of body paintings will trace the history of Tibbetts Brook and visualize its future course.CALL / City as Living Laboratory’s mission is make issues of sustainability tangible by harnessing the creative practices of artists in collaboration with the skills and knowledge of scientists, experts, and communities. Estuary Tattoos is a part of CALL’s Daylighting Tibbetts Brook, a constellation of public art projects evoking the lost ecology of the now-buried Tibbetts Brook and the transformative possibilities associated with future plans to daylight it.
Broadway Plaza
35th to 36th Streets
Musical Performances
| 9:00 am | Bumblebee Jamboree Children’s music influenced by 50’ and 60’ rock-n-roll |
| 10:00 am | Washington Square Winds Contemporary classical music, oboe and flute duo |
| 11:00 am | Jaliya Kafo Ensemble West African music, with 14th century instruments (kora and balafon), including the dundun, a traditional drum of Guinea |
| 12:00 pm | Inti and the Moon Spanish guitars and percussion playing upbeat and romantic Spanish-Latin grooves |
| 1:00 pm | Secret Mall Electric wind instrument, guitar, bass and drums combine to create the sounds of modern jazz, futurefunk and vaporware |
| 2:00 pm | Underground Horns Brooklyn-based brass band playing Afro Funk Latin New Orleans grooves and beyond |
Garment District Rest Stop
Broadway Plaza
36th to 41st Streets
Environmental Exhibition
Broadway Plaza
37th to 38th Streets
Public Art Installation and Workshop
Les Fleurs du Mal: Using recycled plastic bags, Isabelle Garbani’s artwork draws attention to the issue of overconsumption, and illustrates why the Zero Waste Challenge is critical. In advance of Car Free Earth Day, Garbani has knitted a series of wraps from recycled plastic bags to wrap the planters surrounding the plaza. Join Garbani and her students, from the West Nottingham Academy in Maryland, on Car Free Earth Day, as they embellish and grow the public art installation with trash materials collected during the event.
Broadway Plaza
38th to 39th Streets
Arts and Crafts Workshops
Hands-on Papermaking Workshop: Join Nancy Benignus to learn how to recycle scrap paper into beautiful handmade paper. It can be used to make cards or for art projects. Create a piece of paper to take home with you.
Deciduous Expressions: A globe, covered in handmade origami flowers varying in size, shape and color, will contain messages related to facts about the environment, how transportation vehicles effect our environment, simple ways people can help improve the environment, how NYCDOT is creating efficient and environmentally responsible options for the people of New York City. Each origami flower is meant to be picked by viewers to engage with the project and gain information. The interactive workshop will inspire the public to work together to make the world a better place.
Freestyle Poetree: Freestyle Poetree is a poem workshop and a pop-up installation that engages visitors to write about the future of our environment. Visitors at all aged are welcome to participate in showcasing appreciation and concern for the environment.
Make Art not Trash: Coffee cup lids become the scales of a stegosaurus and straws, the pipes of a fountain. Things ordinarily thrown away are given to teams or individuals as the building blocks of desktop sculpture. Only child-safe materials are used, and all have been thoroughly cleaned. And if you need inspiration, a resident artist or crafts person is there to suggest what might be done. Participants take home their creations.
Make Your Own Recycled Planters and Plant a Seed!: Jessica Maffia will demonstrate how to turn recycled household containers into beautiful planters in which participants will plant a seed.
CD Case Portraits: MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS, NYC’s premier reuse facility, will be inviting participants to draw their own PORTRAITS on hundreds of reused CD cases. By tracing their friends faces through the clear plastic, people see another way to keep materials out of the landfills through the creation of art.
Québec- NYC’s Partner in Clean Energy and Climate Action: Learn more about vision-zero, the increased use of public transportation and the importance of public policies and technology like clean energy, electric transport and putting a price on carbon to combat climate change to ensure clean air for generations to come. Participate in question and answer sessions relating to the Québec-California-Ontario joint cap-and-trade carbon works, how Québec has gotten to 99% clean energy and how we provide 5% of New York State’s annual power needs with renewable hydropower as well as how Québec has become the leader in Canada in the promotion and adoption of electric vehicles from Zero Emissions Vehicle Standards, an extensive charging network and North America’s first commercially available 100% electric type-c school bus!
Broadway Plaza,
39th to 40th Streets
Science Exhibition
Mayor’s Office Of Sustainability
Ice Box Challenge NYC: The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability is partnering with Building Energy Exchange, New York Passive House and the Belgium Consulate to present, Ice Box Challenge, a public science demonstration that invites the public to discover the benefits of hyper efficient buildings. Two boxes, one built to reflect the current Building Code and the other to the super-insulated Passive House Standard, will be installed for six weeks in the Broadway Plaza. Each Box contains a 1500 pound block of ice that will melt over the exhibition. At the end of the exhibit, the blocks of ice will be unveiled to the public.
Visit Ice Box Challenge during Car Free Earth Day to watch artist, Olivier Binamé, a Brussels-based street artist whose colorful murals and sculptures have been featured all over the world and beyond, paint the façade of both boxes. Learn more about his artistry at oli-b.be.
Times Square Rest Stop
Broadway Plaza,
42nd to 43rd Streets
Bike Programming
Loudest Yeller Bike Tours (10 am + 12 pm)
A History of Earth Day in NYC by Loudest Yeller Bicycle Tours: Loudest Yeller will host two bicycle tours from Times Square to Union Square and back. Along the ride, your guide will some simple tips about how to commute by bicycle safely and tell you about the history that connects NYC so tightly with Earth Day. Come on this easy ride to learn about Sen. Gaylord Nelson, John Muir and the history of the Conservation Movement and much, much, more. Advance reservation is not required. Bikes will be provided.
Broadway Plaza
42nd to 43rd Streets
Dance Performances
Project Dance Annual Dance Festival (10 am to 6 pm)
Project Dance: Project Dance gathers professional, pre-professional and aspiring dancers for training, performances and networking in major cities around the globe. The pinnacle of our New York City event is an all-day open air dance concert that is free to the public featuring local and international dance artistry in ballet, jazz, modern, hip hop and tap. Dancers gather with the common vision of bringing hope and healing to our city through the universal language of dance.
Broadway Plaza
46th to 47th Streets
Musical and Dance Performances
| 9:00 am | Robert Anderson Band Upbeat jazz trio |
| 10:00 am | Bryant Park Jugglers Learn to juggle recycled objects like tennis balls and soda bottles |
| 11:00 am | Jonathan Russell Violin-looping that responds and adjusts to the surrounding environment |
| 12:00 pm | Hungry March Band A brass, percussion and performance ensemble |
| 1:00 pm | The Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps Musical and artistic expression to promote social equality and harmony for all |
| 2:00 pm | Valerie Green/Dance Entropy, Impermanent Landscape An immersive dance performance that captures the transient nature of living in an ever-changing urban environment. The work is performed in non-traditional locations, responding to the specific nature of the space and theme–in this case, Earth Day! Choreographer Valerie Green articulates the energy and architecture of the city in each innovative performance. |
What do you think about this? We welcome your comments.