NYC events in October 2020

Get your silicone ears and Infinity Gauntlets ready: The biggest pop culture event in North America is back. The glorious weekend of can’t-miss panels, celebrities and all the cosplay you could ever fantasize is going online this year. While meeting up in person is fun, this is event is free for the first time ever. You can still tune in, in a cape-and-cowl at this packed pop culture extravaganza, where anyone can be a superhero. A full schedule is available here. If you're a super fan you can shell our dough for a digital meet-and-greet with your choice of a variety of different celebrities, including Garrett Wang of Star Trek: Voyager, or attend a virtual Dungeons & Dragons workshop with podcast hosts Clint, Justin, Travis and Griffin McElroy.

The famous weekend-long festival where more than 250 fascinating sites across New York open their doors to the public is back. The two-day event offers glimpses into spaces that are usually off limits to the public, from sky-high rooftop gardens to palatial apartments. This year’s extravaganza will feature a hybrid of virtual experiences and outdoor self-guided explorations like digital sneak peeks and crowdless elevator rides.

Escape to Munich without ever leaving NYC thanks to Watermark’s annual Oktoberfest extravaganza on Pier 15. This year is on a slightly smaller scale, offering a socially distanced party in the 3,500-square-foot-venue. This year a new “mini keg” will be on the menu, giving diners five liters filled to the brim with Hofbrau, Weihenstephan or Radeberger beer German beer right at their table. Of course, while you're slugging back steins, you can gorge on German cuisine such as brats and pretzels while taking in views along the East River. While the event is free, tables are available on a first-come, first-served basis. 

The New York Film Festival stretches back to 1963, when it established a mission of bringing the best work from around the world to Lincoln Center. Excitement is already feverish for this year’s 58th edition, thanks to the announcement of this year's lineup which will include new works from Steve McQueen, Chloe Zhao and Azazel Jacobs. An annual treat that shows off the city's cinematic good taste in a classy way, the New York Film Festival hosts many fantastic movie screenings and events that you won’t want to miss. This year, many of those offerings will be shown in a new and innovative way through virtual screenings, drive-in events and more. All tickets are available here. Individual tickets for the virtual cinema cost $15 for Main Slate picks and $12 for Spotlight, Revivals and Currents. Drive-in tickets are $45 per car. 

New York City's five boroughs will be home to more than 60 incredible photography exhibits this fall as part of the annual Photoville Festival. Usually taking place just in Brooklyn Bridge Park for two weeks, Photoville will now also be taking over Astoria Park, Chelsea Park, Jackie Robinson Park, St. Nicholas Park, Soundview Park, Travers Park, Van Cortlandt Park, and the South Beach Promenade among other public spaces across two months. Each exhibit will be completely free to view and spaced out so that taking in a bit of culture in your neighborhood can be safely done.

2020 has been scary enough, but we're throwing the spookiness into high gear for Halloween this month. Typically, October is filled with costumed parties, jump scares at haunted houses, corn mazes and parades, but this year will be a little different. But, there are still quite a few things still taking place, and with Halloween (finally) taking place on a Saturday, it'll be easier to celebrate. 

The Angel's Share live music series is coming back to Green-Wood Cemetery this fall to celebrate and ruminate on America through song, poetry, dance and storytelling. The series will include A Lament for Troubled Times (September 19 and 26), To America (October 22-24), and six virtual performances, From the Catacombs (dates to be announced), at a time when in-person performances are at a minimum. The highlight of the series, To America, will allow visitors to walk through the cemetery and hear the stories of those buried there, including Margaret Pine, the last slave in New York state; Clarence MacKenzie, a 12-year-old drummer boy who was Brooklyn’s first casualty in the Civil War; and others. As distanced visitors walk through the gravestones, they'll also see live dance, hear classical covers of songs written by Carlos Simon, H. Leslie Adams, Caroline Shaw, Leonard Bernstein, and George Walker, and take in the poetry of James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, and Terrance Hayes.

You can purchase tickets for $95 here.

Ulster Park's Headless Horseman Haunted Hayrides and Haunted Houses is replacing its hayrides with an experience, "Dare to Ride The Horseman's Trail," that'll give New Yorkers an opportunity to roll down the window and scream this Halloween, starting October 2.

Drivers and their passengers will pass through horrific scenes like "the butcher shop" and see the headless horseman himself all while staying in their cars. 

The historic oceanside Berkeley Hotel in Asbury Park, NJ has transformed 13 of its rooms into immersive haunted scenes later this month. Guests who check into The Haunting experience will be guided through the rooms on the "haunted" floors of the hotel with their cameras to capture "unexpected frights, spine-tingling thrills, and surprises around every corner."

Safety precautions include temperature checks, regular cleanings, mask requirements, sanitizer stations and no physical contact from performers. There's also a 21+ VIP experience with seating at an exclusive Halloween speakeasy that comes with a welcome cocktail, passed appetizers, and spooky drink specials.

Ready to live out your nightmares? One of NYC's most terrifying haunted attractions, Bane Haunted House, has announced plans to return this fall. The spooky experience plays on people's biggest fears: claustrophobic, separation anxiety, clowns and more. (According to Bane’s website, last year over 2,000 visitors couldn’t even make it through the whole thing.) Here's everything you need to know.

The fear factory is opening in a five-story building in Hell's Kitchen with 40,000-square-feet of space, and a total of 30 spooky rooms. If you’re up for the challenge, tickets go on sale this coming Monday, September 21 at 11:30am and a general admission ticket will cost you $35.