Festival de las Flores

Two beautiful parades make up the Queens Botanical Garden's Festival of Flowers, a traditional Colombian rite of summer. On Aug 18, meet up at 111th Street at Corona Park for performances from around the world, an arts fair, folk dance and a whole lotta flowers, and on Aug 25, the fest moves to Manhattan at Central Park West and 106th Street, where floats, floral displays, dancers, musicians, cultural delegations and elected officials salute summertime. Can't make it to the big parades? At the QBG, you can see the Colombian floral artists hard at work on Aug 16 and 17, as well as Aug 20 through 24 at the crab-apple orchard between 10am and 5pm every day.