Your free and cheap weekend plans begin here, with a couple of dozen things to do this final weekend of July, including a FREE day of family-friendly concerts and dance performances at Lincoln Center and the start of Harlem Week events.
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.
NYC isn’t expensive when you know where to go and what to do, and we do. And we love to share.
NYC Free Summer Events Now Underway
Lincoln Center Out of Doors – Music and dance performances, concerts, film and more through August 12th.
- Saturday is Family Day, with a full schedule of events from 11am to 7pm, including a science lab and dance lessons.
SummerStage – The annual festival of FREE concerts in parks in all five NYC boroughs with performances just about every day through Labor Day 2018. Top performers include R&B, Latin, hip hop and jazz, folk, and dance performances.
- This weekend includes Bombazo Dance Co and The Sabroosura Effect, two a Bronx-based troupes share a bill featuring dances celebrating and rooted in the Latin Diaspora, at St. Mary’s Park, Bronx.
$20 NYC Ticket Deal for theater, concerts and more – Reminder that you have until midnight Friday to take advantage of this special offer. Details here, including the check-out code to also claim a $5 coupon.
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.
Where to Cool Off
Best FREE NYC outdoor pools in Manhattan
Best FREE NYC outdoor pools in Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island
Best NYC beaches you can get to by subway
Best NYC rooftop bars with a breeze and a view
Discount tickets for NYC harbor cruises with cool breezes and great views
Must See Museum Exhibits
Rockwell, Roosevelt and the Four Freedoms – You’ve seen these Norman Rockwell images all your life and know them well. But nothing compares with seeing them in person. This timely exhibit about freedom is at the New York Historical Society.
The exhibit commemorates the 75th anniversary of publication of the illustrations in 1943, to support the WWII war effort, and remain a timely explanation of why Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear are universal and important to every one of us, every day.
Downton Abbey: The Exhibition – The Crawleys will see you now. This fabulous exhibit of Downton Abbey fashions and household furnishings sprawls over three floors. Drool over three floors of luscious costumes, sumptuous family rooms, the kitchen and servants quarters below stairs, plus see unseen footage from the popular series. In Midtown.
- Through Labor Day Weekend only.
Friday Freebies
South Street eaport Museum – Enjoy FREE Friday afternoon admissions through the summer. Visit the historic museum with its exhibitions of how NYC became a world port, and tour the historic ships docket at the between 3pm and 7pm.
Friday Night Fireworks – And you thought fireworks are just for the Fourth of July. Hah! Once again, light up your Friday nights all summer with a FREE fireworks show at Coney Island, every Friday (weather permitting) until August 31.
- 9pm at Between West 10th Street and West 15th Street.
Saturday Free & Cheap
Bronx Night Market – The first-ever Bronx Night Market features more than 35 handpicked local vendors representing NYC’s diverse culinary culture, handcrafted art and gift items and live. music. Vendors include Bronx Brewery, Lotsa Latkes, Habanero Mexican Cuisine and Harlem’s Lolo’s Seafood Shack. The monthly, FREE, open-air festival is a collaboration between quarterly magazine Edible Bronx and support from the Fordham BID.
- Admission is FREE, at Fordham Plaza, 4pm to 9pm.
Saturday and Sunday Free & Cheap
Fashion & Design Weekend – Style takes center stage at the NY Botanical Garden, with Hawaiian fashion and design, including kapa- making, witness traditional tattoo demonstrations, and get a glimpse into the evolution of fashion in Hawai‘i and the cultural influences that inspire the contemporary designs of today. It’s part of the special exhibit commemorating Georgia O’Keeffe’s visit to Hawaii, and the flowers and scenery that inspired her. Festivities include:- The History of Hawaiian Tattooing, a presentation and demonstration by master tattoo artist Keone Nunes
- Pop-Up Fashion Shoot with Native Hawaiian Designer Manaola Yap, and a Fashion Walk
- Kapa Demonstrations with Micah Kamohoali‘i
- Ali‘i Gown Display, reproductions of Queen Kapi‘olani’s and Queen Lili‘uokalani’s gowns, commissioned by ‘Iolani Palace in Honolulu
- Lei Dress-Making with Bliss Lau
The New York City Poetry Festival unites the vast and diverse NYC poetry community with a weekend of workshops, readings and more, including special events for kids. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.- FREE, 11am to 5pm both days, at Governors Island.
Hot Dog Bus – Get FREE hot dogs every weekend through August 25th from this vintage VW Microbus. You can’t miss it. It’s bright yellow and looks like a food truck bulging at the seams. It’s part food truck and part art project, from the Austrian artist Erwin Wurm and the Public Art Project, designed, literally to “encourage audiences to reconsider the relationship between capitalism and consumption” in today’s culture, according to the project’s press release. Not to mention the relationship between over-consumption and obesity, by feeding us free hot dogs.
- Noon to 6pm in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Saturdays at Pier 5, Sundays at Pier 1.
- Limit one per person, while supplies last
- NOTE – The Squibb Bridge is closed until further notice for safety checks
SEE ALSO: NYCOTC Editor Evelyn Kanter’s trip across North Africa in a VW Microbus
Sunday Free & Cheap
Harlem Week – It’s really three weeks of events, starting today with A Great Day in Harlem, an all-day event featuring concerts, cultural displays, fashion shows and more. The day wraps with a special concert tribute to women R&B stars.
- Noon to 8pm in Grant Park at the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, better known as Grant’s Tomb, 122nd St. and Riverside Drive.
23rd Annual Sandcastle Contest – Who can build the best, most fanciful, most crowd-pleasing sandcastle on the beach? It’s FREE to register, FREE to watch and cheer your favorite sand architect. Sponsored by the NYC Dept. of Parks
- Registration begins at 11am at Beach 117th St., Rockaway Beach
Summergarden at MOMA – FREE outdoor classical music and jazz concerts in the Sculpture Garden featuring the talented musicians of NYC’s The Juilliard School and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Titled New Music for New York, each Sunday evening in July. Seating is first-come first-served, and museum admission is not required. The Sculpture Garden may close if attendance reaches maximum capacity. Entrance to Summergarden is through the Sculpture Garden gate on West 54 Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues.
- The Sculpture Garden opens at 7pm. Concerts begin at 8pm and are 60-90 minutes long, and you may stay in the Sculpture Garden until it closes at 10pm. In the event of rain, concerts will be held in The Agnes Gund Garden Lobby, and the Museum’s 54 Street entrance will open at 7:30 p.m.
- The exhibition galleries are closed during Summergarden. The Garden Bar, on the northeast end of the Sculpture Garden, features a selection of homemade snacks, draft beer, wine, and nonalcoholic beverages. In the event of rain, the Garden Bar is closed.
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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Let’s hope the weather cooperates for outdoor events. If not –
5 FREE and cheap things to do in NYC on a rainy day
Best FREE things to do in NYC any day of the year
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.
FREE guided tour of the High Line. Hear the story behind NYC’s trend-setting park in the sky on a special winter walking tour! Join us for a free 45-minute long tour led by High Line Docents, knowledgeable volunteer guides who offer you an insider’s perspective on the park’s history, design, and landscape. Saturdays through April 7. Meet at the Gansevort Steps at Noon.
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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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