NYC events in September 2026

Before you bid summer adieu, go out with a bang on Labor Day. Whether you want ideas for cool out-of-town spots or just want a staycation, we’ve listed all the best events and other unmissabale things to do, including ways to have the best summer ever before Labor Day weekend 2026.

The annual West Indian Day Parade is Monday, September 7, 2026 (Labor Day) and typically draws roughly two million people to Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood each year.

Read more about the parade and the week of festivities on the West Indian American Day Carnival Association website.

We could all use a big plate of pasta chased with a cannoli right about now. The Feast of San Gennaro is here to meet those needs with its annual festival featuring parades, live music and, of course, glorious foods.

Festivities run from September 17-27, 2026 in Little Italy. Activities include the Blessing of the Stands, the Grand Procession Procession and a Solemn High Mass celebrating the patron Saint of Naples. Here's the full events calendar.

Psychedelia comes to the New York Botanical Garden with Flower Power, a groovy, garden-wide takeover celebrating blooms as symbols of peace, love and counterculture cool. Running May 23 through October 18, the exhibition mixes vibrant botanical displays with ’60s-era art, plus trippy installations, live music and after-hours light shows. Wander through technicolor plantings, spot photo ops and lean into the feel-good nostalgia—it’s part flower show, part time warp. And honestly, we could all use a little nature (and time travel) these days.

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.

Since its humble beginnings at D.C.’s Union Market, All Things Go Music Festival has become one of the most anticipated events of late New York City summers. With lineups that predominantly feature queer artists, the event stands sturdy in its values. This year, the festival will return to Forest Hills Stadium and will take place from September 26 through September 28. See artists like Lucy Dacus, DJO, DOECHII, Remi Wolf, Clairo and The Marias, among many others.

Tickets start at $89 for general admission.

As New York City's largest free literary festival, this annual celebration brings together hundreds of spectacular writers from across the globe for more than a week of talks and shopping to satisfy the borough's brainiacs.

Activities run September 20–28 with writers in a variety of genres. You'll find international and local authors, books for both adult and young readers, and works in fiction and nonfiction, poetry, prose and graphic storytelling. Events are free, but you’ll definitely want to bring some money to buy new books to take home. 

While activities run for the entirety of the nine-day celebration, the centerpiece festival day on Sunday, September 27, takes place in the parks and plazas surrounding Downtown Brooklyn’s Borough Hall and other venues from 10am to 6pm. Multiple stages will overflow with conversation as authors come together to converse, read and sign books throughout the day. Festival Day also stages the largest book market in the Northeast with more than 250 publishers, offering readers the possibility to discover new authors, independent publishers and literary organizations.

Here's the full schedule.

Carving a jack-o'-lantern may be a time-honored American tradition for many, but nobody—and we mean nobody—does pumpkin carving quite like Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze.

Every fall, pumpkins aplenty decorate this festive, family-friendly attraction. This year promises thousands of intricately carved jack-o'-lanterns in mesmerizing displays, plus dazzling new experiences.

Blaze: Hudson Valley runs at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson in Westchester County from September 18 through November 8. Get tickets here.

The annual Ferragosto Festival is returning once again to the Bronx Little Italy on Sunday, September 13, with delicious food and live entertainment. 

Going back centuries, the Ferragosto tradition recognizes the end of the harvest season and enjoying the fruits of those labors. More than 25 years ago, the merchants of Arthur Avenue and East 187th Street decided to bring the Italian celebration to the Bronx. Since then, the festival has continued to grow every year, attracting thousands of guests, many whom travel a long way to make it part of their family tradition.

Bronx Little Italy is home to numerous family-owned small businesses, many still owned and operated by the same families that founded them over a century ago. Visitors to the festival can enjoy the small-town charm, authenticity and preservation of Italian culture. 

The Ferragosto Festival goes from noon to 6pm, rain or shine, on Arthur Avenue between East 187th Street and Crescent Avenue. The stage featuring live entertainment is located on East 186th Street between Arthur Avenue and Hughes Avenue.

While you can try your luck at street parking, additional spots are available at Fordham University (685 E Fordham Rd.) for a $10 fee with a free shuttle that runs from 11am to 7pm.

The festivities are hosted by the Belmont Business Improvement District.

Brooklyn, get ready to trade your OMNY swipe for a trip back in time. On Saturday, September 19, the New York Transit Museum’s beloved Bus Festival returns to Brooklyn Bridge Park—and admission is completely free. From 10am to 3:30pm, Emily Warren Roebling Plaza will become an open-air time capsule showcasing more than 90 years of New York City bus history.

Four stars of the museum’s vintage fleet will take center stage, including Betsy, a 1931 double-decker from Fifth Avenue Coach’s “1200 series” that ran until 1947; the 1956 Bus 3100, the first air-conditioned bus in the United States, complete with cushioned seats and fluorescent lighting; Bus 9098, the first in NYC equipped with sliding windows, fiberglass seats and rear door safety exits; and more

A dearly departed piece of New York’s punk past is being resurrected for one night only this fall. CBGB—the iconic East Village music club that helped kickstart the careers of many notable punk rock and new wave bands, including the Ramones, Blondie, Television, Talking Heads, Dead Boys and Patti Smith Group—will be popping up once again as CBGB Festival on September 26 at Under the K Bridge Park in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. (The original CBGB at 315 Bowery shuttered for good in 2006.)

The lineup features 17 bands, including Patti Smith, The Sex Pistols, Upchuck, Bad Nerves, Agnostic Front, Morrissey, Panic Shack and more. 

Tickets cost between $99-$799. Book here.

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. Through 2024, their all-time regular season winning percentage is .569 (a 10,778 – 8,148 record)—the best of any team in MLB history.

Grab your tickets now to see NYC in action!

Forget the 14-hour flight from NYC to Tokyo, you can now discover the tastes of Japan with just a short subway ride to JAPAN Fes. The massive annual food festival has some September dates packed with events.

What used to be just a summertime festival is now a year-round celebration across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Event organizers say it's the largest Japanese food festival in the world, attracting 300,000 visitors and featuring 1,000 vendors every year.

Here's the lineup for September: September 5 in Long Island City; September 6 on the Upper West Side; September 12 and 13 in Chelsea; September 19 and 27 on the Upper East Side; September 26 in Morningside Heights.

The show is on Saturday, September 26—and it's free to attend if you do good deeds like signing petitions or other advocacy work. You can sign up for more information announcements on their website.

Smorgasburg, the food bazaar spectacular, is back with dozens of great local vendors across three locations. Smorgasburg WTC runs on Fridays; Williamsburg is on Saturdays; Prospect Park is on Sundays; and the newly added Central Park location is open Friday through Sunday. Each is open weekly through October. 

For its 15th year of outdoor food and fun, Smorgasburg will showcase more than 70 vendors. The food festival will be filled with fragrant Ethiopian stews, Hawaii-style street comforts, explosive pani puri, potato puff poutine and lots more.

One of the top things to do in New York this fall includes two weeks of drinking some of the best beer in NYC during Oktoberfest. Take in the beautiful fall foliage while drinking at one of the best beer gardens and German eateries in New York City. Take advantage of this glorious holiday to sample fine Bavarian beer and food. Prost!

Wild Captives, the nation’s first female- and LGBTQ-owned archery studio, is now open. It's a place where everyone can "be their own superhero." The studio in Brooklyn’s Industry City offers empowering and fun hour-long introduction to archery classes every weekend for $45/person. 

Each intro class includes a chance to learn about different parts of the bow and safety requirements. After the lesson, each participant gets a chance to shoot the bow trying to pop a balloon pinned onto the bullseye. Intro-to-archery classes are available each Friday, Saturday and Sunday, bookable online for anyone over age 12.