44 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Saturday, June 25, 2011
All events are free unless otherwise noted.
Moderate to brisk walks led by the NY Walkers Club for people 18 years and older of all abilities. This ...
more >> low-impact fitness program is perfect for those who want to get in shape, build muscle tone and strength, and increase cardiovascular health while enjoying the Park’s beautiful landscapes.
9:30 am
free, no reservation required
Sketch and paint the Hudson River and neighboring parks with an artist/educator. Materials provided.
New York City, NY; NYC
10:00 am
free, no reservation required
Join 20-minute instructional paddles, and explore the Hudson River first hand. Please wear a bathing ...
more >> suit or shorts and a t-shirt, and know how to swim. Weather permitting. No registration required. Kayaks and life vests provided.
10:00 am
free, no reservation required
In Manhattan: Relaxed walking, child friendly/stroller friendly, level ground, four to five hours. Following ...
more >> the path of the “water system” we will walk up Fifth Avenue to Central Park and enter the Park at 60th Street and end the walk at High Bridge Tower (Amsterdam Avenue and 173rd Street. Drop off points all along the walk. Bring lunch, water, binoculars or a camera with optical zoom lens. Heavy rain cancels.
Meet with traditional pottery artist Josephine M. Seymour, currently featured in the documentary GRAB ...
more >> by Billy Luther. Starts at 10am and 1pm.
10:00 am
free, no reservation required
Take a break to enjoy the Park on this one hour walk through the Park's smallest woodland area. Learn ...
more >> its history, enjoy its peacefulness, and discover the mystery behind the waterfall. Note: Due to limited space, the first 20 people to sign in at the beginning of the tour will be able to participate!
10:00 am
free, no reservation required
5 miles, slow pace, flat. From Grand Army Plaza down Union St., over to Court St., then across Brooklyn ...
more >> Bridge to Chinatown, ending hike at restaurant. Must call to confirm.
Explore the Cathedral's newly cleaned and restored Nave. Learn about the art, architecture and history ...
more >> of this great sacred space from 1892 to the present.
Experience the Park's only formal garden with the Garden staff. See exuberant perennial and annual beds, ...
more >> and delight in an abundance of color and fragrance while learning about the Garden's history and design.
11:00 am
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
Get out on the water for kayaking and community rowing. Children under 18 must have an adult guardian ...
more >> present.
11:00 am
free, no reservation required
Free Classes in the Park. Experience the joy of movement and dance. Classes are led by former and current ...
more >> members of the internationally renowned modern dance company, Limon Dance.
11:00 am
free, no reservation required
Test your skills at state-of-the-art tables. Paddles and balls are provided free of charge.
New York City, NY; NYC
11:00 am
free, no reservation required
11:00 am
free, no reservation required
11:00 am
free, no reservation required
Join Parks and Backpacker Magazine for Adventures NYC and discover adventure right here in your own backyard! ...
more >> Get ready to hike, bike, climb and paddle in the Park as you celebrate NYC Parks and the great outdoors. All activities are FREE and the event will take place rain or shine.
12:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Welcome the summer with Inti Raymi, the Festival of the Sun, one of the most important ancestral celebrations ...
more >> of the Native peoples of the Andes. The Ecuadorean dance group Ayazamana and the musicians of Sinchikuna will lend their high-energy talents to this family-friendly participatory performance.
12:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Seneca Village was Manhattan's first known community of African-American property owners, on land that ...
more >> would become the Park. Tour covers the history of the village, the property owners, and what New York City was like at the time. Tour is approximately one hour.
12:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Culminating this yearʼs Dancing Classrooms program, talented 5th and 8th grade dancers from New York ...
more >> City public schools compete in this city-wide competition for the grand prize as they Fox Trot, Merengue, Rumba, Swing and Tango their way to the gold. 8th Graders will perform at 1pm and 5th Graders at 4pm.
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Explore the Cathedral's newly cleaned and restored Nave. Learn about the art, architecture and history ...
more >> of this great sacred space from 1892 to the present.
Editor's Pick
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Hey New York! Think you've got enough grit to remix history and take on the biggest cattle drive this ...
more >> side of the Mississippi? Find out in this manhunt-inspired game of team tag set in 1919. Spurs, denim and flannels recommended but not required. (Teams assigned on-site.)
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
New York Opera Forum performs the complete opera Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). A live ...
more >> musical recital performed in concert with piano accompaniment.
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Join the Instant Shakespeare Company for a dramatic reading of William Shakespeare's classic. Bard fans ...
more >> of all ages are welcome!
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
S. BRIAN ADAM PRESENTS SEVERAL UNIQUE MULTI-MEDIA VIDEOS. Adam masters three art forms---music, visual ...
more >> art, and poetry which are presented simultaneously in a video format. The video presentations are part of a book entitled How Do How Do the Lovely Thing. Although the videos are part of something larger, each one stands alone as a completed artistic achievement.
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Got knitting skills? If you are a pro or are just starting out join our Knitting Circle. They'll provide ...
more >> some materials but everyone is required to bring their own yarn.
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
The Tito Puente Orchestra strikes the opening notes of the first song and for the next hour Yolanda Duke ...
more >> is sure to mesmerize you with her mastery of Latin jazz, Merengue, Ballads, Bossanova, Salsa and Bolero.
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Known for transforming narrative into something richer, stranger, and ineluctably feminine, OBIE Award-winning ...
more >> PearlDamour (Katie Pearl and Lisa D’Amour) join forces with New Orleans-based visual artist Shawn Hall for a hybrid project: part visual art installation, part theater performance that unfolds over an extended eight-hour interval. Beginning with an empty stage, PearlDamour, Hall, and a team of performer-workers transforms the theater from floor to ceiling, constructing and then dismantling an elaborate evolving environment evocative of an old growth forest at one moment and a spectacular deep-sea landscape the next.
Audience members are invited to enter the mutating installation throughout the process to get a closer look, or they can choose to take a self-guided tour that leads them through the installation and out on to the High Line. Furthermore, new short texts by Lisa D’Amour weave through each hour of the build. An extensive “source guide” tracks the lineage of every material used to build the forest: where it came from in the earth, where it will go once the artists are finished using it. Inspired by Hurricane Katrina and further informed by the BP oil spill, How to Build a Forest invites contemplation about our relationship with the natural world: how we live in it, rely on it, use it, and use it up.
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
The tour explores the social and political history of the Union Square neighborhood through discussions ...
more >> of the people, history, architecture, and forces that have shaped this community. You’ll hear how Union Square got its name, see where the legendary Tiffany & Co. once stood, and learn how to read the clock (yes, it’s a clock!) on “The Metronome” sculpture and so much more!
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Take a walk around the lands dominated by the Castle, situated high on Vista Rock. Visit the tiny 55-acre ...
more >> realm on an eclectic tour of history and nature. Tour is approximately one hour.
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Lee Fields is a bona-fide, unadulterated soul singer. While the funk and soul community bestowed “legendary” ...
more >> status upon him due to his series of rare 7" singles and one LP released on his own labels in the 70’s, he's never been one to sit in a dusty corner. After linking up with Truth & Soul’s house band The Expressions, he has successfully created a sound that can hold court with the sweet soul bands that came before them.
Six musicians, five dapper suits and irresistible songs are the backbone of Fitz & the Tantrums. With the release of their five-song EP, Songs for a Breakup, Vol. 1 and their newest release, Pickin' Up the Pieces, the band has begun its quick ascent towards fame. Having performed with bands like Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings and Maroon 5, it’s obvious that their brand of soul-clapping, get-down-on-the-floor music is here to stay.
A self-taught singer and songwriter, Andreya Triana had an early love of improvisation, hugely influencing her “Freeflo Sessions,” a hypnotic one-woman show using a sampler to loop vocals, percussive sounds and beats. 2010 saw the release of her highly anticipated debut, Lost Where I Belong, a beautifully honest album, combining the best of soul, folk, and jazz.
Rich Medina has taken crowds on a journey through hip-hop, house, funk and soul, for twenty years. From NYC to Tokyo, music lovers know not to miss a night when Medina is manning the decks as DJ.
4:00 pm
free, no reservation required
A group show of sculptural works by artists who have been associated with the gallery's history, from ...
more >> the 70s to present day. Artists: Joseph Beuys, Chris Burden, Rico Gatson, Kelly Heaton, Pepón Osorio, Roxy Paine, Sam Van Aken, and Hannah Wilke.
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Tonight, brilliant students take the stage. The legends of tomorrow show you they're actually the stars ...
more >> of today.
Editor's Pick
Dances for a Variable Population has been invited to participate in the celebration of the newly renovated ...
more >> park. The unique company, with members of all ages, will present the new "Washington Square Dances," inspired by Terry Riley's landmark 1964 composition "In C," remixed by contemporary composers and performed by a company of women ages 24 to 81 (yes, 81).
6:30 pm
free, no reservation required
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed ...
more >> to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life.
6:30 pm
free, no reservation required
Between THE HEAVY’s (pictured) “menacing and dirty mix of Funkadelic, James Brown and maxi-fuzzed ...
more >> psychedelic garage” (Time Out NY) and the roaring guitars of THE LONDON SOULS channeling “the best bits of your old man’s dusty vinyl collection,” (Relix) a quiet night it won't be. SUPERHUMAN HAPPINESS throws some über funky ’80s electro-meets-afrobeat into the pot, to deepen the overall groove. Gates open at 6.
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Join an evening of an evening Richard Strauss, Dvorak, and other classical music performed by the renowned ...
more >> Gotham Winds Ensemble.
Calling all blankets, picnic baskets, and candles!
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Roam through the Park with the actors as you enjoy this delightful comedy presented by the New York Classical ...
more >> Theatre. With: Brian Cheng, Will Gallacher, Lindsey Kyler, Drew Lewis, Lauren Margaret Nordvig, Nick Plakias, Nick Salamone, and Courtney Alana Ward.
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Come down to the park and play for fellow visitors! Sing for Hope, a NYC-based non-profit, will place ...
more >> 88 pianos in parks and public spaces throughout the five boroughs from June 18 - July 2. A symbol of Sing for Hope's commitment to make the arts available to everyone, the Pop-Up Pianos will unite and engage diverse communities throughout the city. After their public residency, each piano will be donated to local schools, hospitals, and community centers to be enjoyed for years to come.
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
7:30 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
Theo Bleckmann will perform with Future Quest, a quintet devoted to “re-imaginings” of Meredith Monk’s ...
more >> music. Future Quest is Bleckmann on vocals, saxophonists Ellery Eskelin and Tony Malaby, pianist Erik Deutsch, and John Hollenbeck on percussion. They will be joined on the bill by Guinean music group Fula Flute.
7:30 pm
free, no reservation required
All's Well That Ends Well is a fairytale for grown-ups. This beguiling fable follows the low-born Helena, ...
more >> one of Shakespeare’s most resourceful heroines, as she inventively surmounts obstacle after impossible obstacle in order to win the love of the aristocratic and haughty Count Bertram. Directed by Daniel Sullivan.
Bleak! Comedy presents IRON SKETCH� the ultimate sketch comedy show down! Each month Bleak! Comedy ...
more >> and three of the hottest and wildest sketch comedy troupes enter Sketch Stadium to perform a sketch including this month's secret ingredient chosen by the audience. Every show promises 4 brand new sketches that may never be seen again. Hosted by a different Stand up Chairman every month.