The Summer Solstice is celebrated around the world, including here in New York City. Here are FREE and cheap events throughout the city to acknowledge the summer equinox, on Thursday, June 21, and through the weekend, including the annual Make Music NY festival with performances in all five boroughs.
This is your annual opportunity to do Downward Dog and Warrior Pose with several thousand of your closest friends, in what used to be called Yogathon. Sign up for FREE classes with top NYC yogis.
Bring your own mat, and expect to be photographed by NYC news crews and tourists-turned-paparazzi.
- 7:30am – 8:30am: Douglass Stewart (YogaWorks, Ishta)
- 9:30am – 10:30am: Jodie Rufty (YogaWorks)
- 11:30am – 12:30pm: #AerieREAL Empowered Flow with Catherine Gignac (Aerie)
- 1:30pm – 2:30pm: Donna Rubin, Jen Lobo, and Friends (bodē nyc)
- 3:30pm – 4:30pm: Colin Lieu (youth mindfulness instructor – NYC schools)
- 5:30pm – 6:30pm: Amy Pearce-Hayden (Yoga International)
- 7:30pm – 8:45pm: Swami Paramananda (Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers)
Make Music NY – This citywide celebration returns for it’s 10th year with FREE performances in NYC parks and on NYC sidewalks by both professional and amateur musicians. Part of the fun is the public is invited to join in, perhaps with drumming, perhaps with happy dancing. Most events are late afternoon or early evening, and all are kid-friendly.
There are simply too many Make Music NY events to list here. There are enough events to fill a 12-page PDF. Download it here.
There are additional Summer Solstice events here:
Joe’s Pub Block Party – Astor Place, 1pm-7pm
Summer Solstice Celebration – on The Triangle, Sixth Ave. and St. Marks Ave, Brooklyn, Noon to 4pm
Make Music Cobble Hill Fair – Court St., from Atlantic Ave. to Wycoff St., 4:30pm to 9:30pm
Summer Solstice Celebration, Socrates Sculpture Garden, 32-01 Vernon Blvd., Long Island City, 5pm to Dusk
Midsummer Night’s Solstice Meditation – Celebrate the summer equinox in the beautiful gardens of Wave Hill. Explore the enchanted gardens on a guided meditative walk and finish with a series of restful poses. Bring a yoga mat, and a camera for the sunset.
- Note this is the only event on our list which is not free
- 6m to 8pm, $25. Meet at the Perkins Visitor Center.
Summer Solstice Events on Friday, June 22
Swedish Summer Festival – Traditional Swedish music and dancing, and food. Learn traditional Swedish folk dances from Barnklubben Elsa Rix and join in lively dance around the Midsummer pole. Make wreaths from beautiful flowers representing those in bloom on the solstice in Sweden. Enjoy a parade, children’s games, and Swedish delicacies. Traditional music by Paul Dahlin and fiddlers from the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis and the musicians of the Dalarnas Fiddlers Association perform traditional Swedish folk music from their province. Sponsored by the Swedish Consulate.
- Wagner Park, Battery Park City, 5pm-8pm
Summer Solstice Events on Saturday, June 23
Inti Raymi: Festival of the Sun –
Inti Raymi is one of the most important traditional celebrations in the Andean countries of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, being celebrated on Saturday June 23 at the National Museum of the American Indian in Lower Manhattan. Presented in collaboration with the organization Kichwa Nation, the Museum celebrates the Festival of the Sun with an afternoon of FREE music and dance.
- 1pm to 4pm. FREE and family-friendly. NMAI is at One Bowling Green, New York, NY 10004
North Brooklyn Boat Club Summer Solstice Benefit Party –
UPDATE – This event has been postponed until July because of weather.
Celebrate summer at your community boat club with good neighbors, good food, good music from local bands on the shipping containers, and sitting by the fire to watch the water go by. Admission is just $5, and all proceeds benefit NBBC’s community programming on the waterways of New York City.
- 6pm until late at the NBBC Broadway Stages Boatyard, 51 Ash St., under the Pulaski Bridge
- 21+ to drink
- Featuring music by The Reverse Engineers / Blacktop Daisy / Old Table / RYAL / The Listeners
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