NYC events in April 2026

New York’s outdoor food festival season is about to get a delicious jumpstart. JAPAN Fes, one of the city’s most beloved street food events, is returning later this month to celebrate a major milestone: its 10th anniversary in New York City.

The festival officially launched its 2026 season on March 28 at Astor Place in the East Village, bringing dozens of Japanese food vendors to the streets for a full day of snacking, sipping and exploring. If you miss that first event, another festival will follow the very next day on March 29 on 40th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Midtown.

And that’s just the beginning. Organizers say at least 34 JAPAN Fes events are already scheduled across New York City this year, with more likely to be added as the season unfolds. Each event typically runs from 10 am to 6 pm and pops up in neighborhoods across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

If you’ve never been, imagine a block party devoted entirely to Japanese street food. Vendors serve everything from teriyaki chicken skewers and crispy karaage to onigiri, ramen, takoyaki and yakisoba. Sweet treats like matcha shaved ice and bubble tea also make frequent appearances, along with Japanese snacks, crafts and cultural booths.

The Met is going all in Raphael, in what is the first comprehensive exhibition of the great master in the U.S. “Raphael: Sublime Poetry” is on view through June 28, pulling more than 170 of the Renaissance star’s works from museums and collections around the world. The show follows the artist’s entire career, from early days in Urbino (where he was born in 1483 to a painter-poet father) to his rise in Florence, where his peers were Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and finally to his years in Rome as the go-to artist for the papal court.

There are heavyweights—like “The Alba Madonna,” which is on loan from the National Gallery of Art, and the Louvre’s “Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione,” considered one of the finest portraits of the High Renaissance—but the exhibition also sheds light on Raphael’s processes. Finished works are shown alongside preparatory drawings, sketches and studies, giving a glimpse into his obsessive dedication to composition, anatomy and emotion.

If your spring calendar is still looking a little… indoorsy so far, here’s a quick fix: take your movie night to the roof. Rooftop Cinema Club has returned to midtown with a lineup focused on crowd-pleasers and date-night classics with just enough nostalgia. The concept is simple but effective: open-air (well, technically enclosed and heated for spring), skyline views, wireless headphones and a rotating schedule of films.

April’s theme, “Don’t judge a book by its movie,” brings a literary twist to the programming, with adaptations like Pride & Prejudice, The Great Gatsby (2013) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s anchoring the schedule. But if you’re less into period drama and more into emotional chaos or blockbuster escapism, there’s plenty of that too—The Notebook, Crazy Rich Asians and The Hunger Games are also in the lineup.

The cinema sits on the Skylawn rooftop of the Embassy Suites on West 37th Street, with views that stretch across midtown, including a peek at the Empire State Building if you time it right. It’s fully enclosed and heated for spring, so there’s no gambling with the weather and the whole thing is designed to feel more like a low-key lounge than a typical theater.

New York’s favorite open-air food circus is officially back. Smorgasburg returns the first weekend of April for its 16th season, bringing back more than 70 food vendors with one of the most globally diverse lineups the market has seen yet.

This year’s edition of the beloved open-air food market will feature 74 vendors across its two flagship locations this year. That includes 22 newcomers serving everything from Korean shaved ice and Fuzhounese dumplings to Mexico City-style tacos and Colombian grilled meats.

The season kicks off Saturday, April 4, at Marsha P. Johnson State Park in Williamsburg, followed by the Sunday market at Breeze Hill in Prospect Park starting April 5. Both markets will run weekly from 11 am to 6 pm through October.

Among the standouts: Bingsoo, serving delicate Korean shaved-ice desserts; Chenzi, specializing in chewy Fuzhounese potato dumplings made from a multigenerational recipe; and Kolachi Rolls, an East Village favorite known for Karachi-style paratha wraps filled with boldly spiced meats.

If you thought the chaos ended when the lights go down at Lady Gaga’s final Mayhem Ball show, think again. A secret, one-night-only afterparty is set to unfold just steps from Madison Square Garden—and it’s shaping up to be as delightfully unhinged as the era it’s sending off.

Dubbed “The Death of Mayhem: The Final Mayhem Ball Afterparty,” the event will be a full-blown farewell ritual. Timed to coincide with the final Mayhem Ball performance on Monday, April 13, it invites Little Monsters to gather in mourning (and celebration) of Gaga’s most chaotic chapter.

Details are intentionally scarce (this is Gaga, after all), but here’s what we do know: the afterparty will take place somewhere in Midtown Manhattan, with the exact location only revealed to confirmed guests the day before. Inside, expect a high-drama, immersive atmosphere with plenty of Gothic glam. Organizers are promising reimagined Gaga anthems, theatrical activations and a crowd of diehard fans ready to “lay Mayhem to rest” in style. This won’t be a chill drink-and-dance situation. 

And yes, somehow, it’s free. But before you start celebrating, there’s a catch: only a very limited number of guests will make it in. Entry is first-come, first-served via RSVP and organizers are clear that you should only sign up if you can actually attend. Doors open at 1 pm and if you do snag a spot, arriving early is strongly encouraged. The event is strictly 21 and up, so bring a valid ID unless you want your Mayhem-era goodbye cut tragically short at the door.

A new public artwork has landed—well, technically, it’s hovering—over the Lullwater in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Think a flock of neon-pink birds, suspended midair, with wings fluttering in the breeze. The installation, dubbed The Journey, by Brooklyn-based artist Risha Gorig, is now on view along the shoreline near the park’s historic Boathouse through August 31. Presented by NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program and the Prospect Park Alliance, the piece turns a quiet stretch of water into something both thought-provoking and surreal.

Set 15 feet above the ground, the kinetic birds catch the wind and move in loose formation, meant to symbolize migration. It’s not just a pretty spectacle, though. Gorig’s work considers the deeper meanings of the act, as it relates to a shared human experience shaped by movement, displacement and the search for stability.

If you want to meet the artist and see the work in motion (and maybe feel a little poetic about it), there’s an official opening celebration on April 19 as part of the park’s Earth Day festivities. Expect nature walks, performances and a closer look at how the installation came together. 

To celebrate the upcoming release of The Devil Wears Prada 2, Grey Goose is bringing a series of chic, on-the-go pop-up carts across Manhattan, serving a fashion-forward twist on the espresso martini. Called “The Devil’s Roast,” the drink riffs on Miranda Priestly’s famous coffee order but, this time, it comes with vodka and a side of gold-dusted popcorn.

The limited-time carts will pop up at Hudson Yards, Zuccotti Park and Manhattan West Plaza on April 14, 21 and 23. They’ll be open twice daily, from 12pm to 2pm and then again from 4pm to 6pm, making them perfectly timed for both a power lunch detour or a post-work pick-me-up. As for the tipple itself, the cocktail is made with Grey Goose vodka and finished with three gold-dusted coffee beans, a nod to both the drink’s fashion-world pedigree and the espresso martini's resurgence.

For the first time in five decades, a retrospective spotlighting the radical modern works and revolutionary readymades of Marcel Duchamp is coming to North America and, more specifically, New York’s Museum of Modern Art. On view from April 12 to August 22 in partnership with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Marcel Duchamp will feature nearly 300 pieces spanning six decades and all mediums, from his Cubist masterpiece Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) to his “portable museum,” The Box in a Valise. 

Two of Mexico's most beloved artistic and cultural icons—Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera—will be rightfully celebrated in a new MoMA exhibition presented in conjunction with the Metropolitan Opera and its production of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego (May 14–June 5, 2026). On view from March 21 through September 12, 2026, the exhibit will showcase five paintings and a drawing by Kahlo and over a dozen works by Rivera pulled from MoMA's collection, in an elaborate installation designed by Jon Bausor, the set and co-costume designer of the opera.  Photographic portraits of the artists by the likes of Lola Álvarez Bravo and Leo Matiz will also be on view.

The Guggenheim's iconic spiral rotunda gets a colorful transformation courtesy the works of Geneva-born, New York-based artist Carol Bove, in the first museum survey of her sculptural pieces. Running from March 5 through August 2 and charting more than 25 years of work, the career-spanning show displays the wide range of her inventive practices, "from assemblages of paperback books and intimate paper collages to towering steel sculptures," per the museum. 

Timed to the United States’ 250th anniversary, the American Folk Art Museum's Folk Nation: Crafting Patriotism in the United States exhibition explores how vernacular art has shaped national identity. Using the museum’s collection, the show delves into the meanings of “folk,” “nation” and “patriotism” at the 2 Lincoln Square gallery. It offers a thought-provoking look at who is represented in American stories and how those stories change. The show runs April 10–September 13, then reopens October 8 and runs through February 28, 2027.

Six-time Emmy winner Maya Rudolph is headed to Broadway this spring, making her debut in the deliriously unhinged hit comedy Oh, Mary!, and stepping into the famously frazzled shoes of Mary Todd Lincoln for a strictly limited eight-week run.

Producers announced that Rudolph will begin performances on April 28 and play through June 20 at the Lyceum Theatre, where the show has been packing houses since its July 2024 premiere. 

Directed by Tony winner Sam Pinkleton, the outrageous historical farce imagines Mary Todd Lincoln not as a grieving widow but as a flamboyant, frustrated cabaret wannabe desperate to escape the White House and finally take the stage. The result is a manic, anachronistic fever dream that has become one of Broadway’s most talked-about comedies in years.

On now through April 27 across two floors of the SculptureCenter in Long Island City, Pat Oleszko: Fool Disclosure is the artist's first New York City solo presentation in 35 years, spotlighting her signature inflatables as well as posters, postcards, photographs, costumes, hats and moving images, among others, all of which are rooted in Oleszko's "humor, sharp social commentary and the defiance of all forms of authority," says the museum. 

Celebrating 4/20 is always a buzz, but the holiday in NYC has become an even bigger deal now that cannabis is legal for adult use in New York.

If you want to celebrate 4/20 in a big way this month, we know just the places to elevate your roll. You may gain some extra inspiration from watching the best stoner movies and listening to the best weed songs.

We can't quite think of a more Jane Fonda move: the award winning actress and climate activist is set to star in the premiere of Dear Everything: A Musical Uprising for the Earth at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) for one night only on April 22—which is actually Earth Day. 

Written by Tony Award winner V (formerly Eve Ensler) and directed by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus, the production is a folk-pop musical that will take over the venue's Howard Gilman Opera House "as an artistic response to our climate emergency," reads an official press release. 

The story focuses on a fictional small town, where teenager Sophia rounds up friends to stop the adults from sacrificing nearby forests for money. Fonda will be narrating the production. 

Tickets for Dear Everything: A Musical Uprising for the Earth, which start at $35, are currently available right here.

Step back in time at Before New York: A Traveling Pop-Up Exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden, where the city’s original landscape becomes the focus. This immersive display from ecologist Dr. Eric W. Sanderson and colleagues reconstructs the area as it was on September 12, 1609, just before Henry Hudson landed. Before New York explores the region’s original ecosystems and Indigenous histories, inviting visitors to imagine Manhattan as it once was: lush, wild and teeming with life. It’s a fascinating, thought-provoking complement to the Garden’s living collections and environmental mission.

There's nothing like a day of worshipping our planet to put an optimistic spin on dwindling resources, rising sea levels and the alarming acceleration of climate change. This year's events offer a chance to give back to mother nature.

It would be nearly impossible (or at the very least, incredibly time-consuming) to visit all of the restaurants in the Lower East Side. Luckily, Taste of the Lower East Side brings all of our favorites together in one place, and they are doing it all for charity.

On Wednesday, April 29, dozens of the neighborhood's best restaurants, bars and small businesses are coming together to serve the best food and drinks in town. Pile up a plate with bites and drinks from Beauty & Essex, Freemans, Mia's Cocina and more.

It is all going down at the Metropolitan Pavilion (125 West 18th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues). Tickets range from $300 for general admission and up, with proceeds going to  Grand St. Settlement.

Folks flock to this annual floral-filled exhibition at Macy’s Herald Square, where jaw-dropping arrangements are on display for two weeks. The theme for this year's installment is "Homegrown," part of the nationwide celebration of America's 250th birthday, "expressed through flowers, fiber and timeless handicrafts," per Macy's. From Thursday, April 23 through Sunday, May 10, explore greenhouse-inspired installations, breathtaking bloom-filled planters, decorative stained-glass garden panels, sculptural fabric birds, yarn-wrapped trees and more in the immersive spring spectacle. 

Now in its 14th year, Brisket King NYC returns on Wednesday, April 29 at Astoria's Pig Beach BBQ, bringing together more than 15 chefs and restaurants serving up everything from classic Texas-style low-and-slow brisket to favorites found in Jewish delis, Thai kitchens, Caribbean jerk stands and Mexican barbacoa traditions. 

This year's lineup features returning champions and first-timers competing for the title of Brisket King, including two-time winner Richie Holmes of Juicy Lucy BBQ, 2023 champion David Gill of Wildwoods BBQ, 2024 titleholder Leland Avellino of Avellino Family Barbecue and the 2024 titleholder and last year’s Brisket King, Anthony Scerri of Smoke Sweats. Every ticket includes all-access to food and drinks, including a lineup of New York-focused spirits.

Tickets are on sale now. Early birds can snag general admission tickets for $55 before they go up to $65. VIP tickets are $85 and include access to unlimited food and drink, plus a chance to mix and mingle with the chefs and exclusive Brisket King Merch. You can also buy group VIP tickets priced at $750 for ten people.

Hitting a Yankees game couldn’t be more quintessentially New York. The Major League Baseball team, which won the World Series in 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009, made it to the World Series again in 2024! To date, the Yankees have won 27 World Series in 42 appearances, the most in the MLB in addition to major North American professional sports leagues.

Even if you're not a big sports fan, going to a game is a bucket list activity with hot dogs, fun cheers, and great energy.

Discover new global perspectives at the inaugural CONDUCTOR Art Fair of the Global Majority, a boutique event spotlighting artists and galleries from historically underrepresented regions. Running April 30 to May 3 at Brooklyn's Powerhouse Arts (322 3rd Ave.), the fair brings together work from across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Oceania and Indigenous nations. Curated by Adriana Farietta in collaboration with Powerhouse Arts, expect a showcase that challenges traditional art market narratives while celebrating the richness and diversity of global contemporary art.