New York City is a multicultural hub with dozens of museums, hundreds of parks and millions of people. The number of potential things to see and do can feel overwhelming, but NY1 has you covered with some of the highlights taking place this weekend across the five boroughs.

World Cup Watch Parties

Sunday, July 19 at 3 p.m.
Across the city
More information here

For those who couldn’t score tickets to see Lamine Yamal and Spain take on Lionel Messi and Argentina at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, rest assured there are many places across the city to watch the match with other fans.

In addition to a dedicated “Fan Zone” in each borough — with music, games, food and more — there are several free watch parties throughout the five boroughs.

Governors Island will host The People’s Final, and the American Museum of Natural History will hold a screening, as will the Queens Botanical Garden, MOMA PS1 and Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library.

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Play Soccer

Matches open through July 19
Locations across the city
FIFA Arena information here
Late-night game information here

For anyone inspired to not just watch, but play soccer (or football, as the rest of the world calls it), the FIFA Arena is a small, free pitch (field) that has been set up near Tavern on the Green in Central Park. 

Open though the entire duration of the World Cup, all ages and abilities are welcome to use the space, with no registration or fee required for open play. There are two daily sessions, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

For those with abnormal hours, Mayor Zohran Mamdani also announced players can visit a field in each borough for overnight matches.

Teams can sign up here to reserve a slot for a 7v7 pickup game, or simply show up and join the fun. All participants must sign a waiver.

Now presenting 24/7 soccer fields in the city that never sleeps.

Find your next late-night game at https://t.co/HIZoGWHbeL. pic.twitter.com/Oe5tTxErQm

— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) July 6, 2026

Nature World Cup

Saturday, July 18 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Orchard Beach, the Bronx
More information here

For those who want to learn while they play, NYC Parks is hosting their own World Cup based around nature-themed games.

Urban Park Rangers say the fun will combine soccer skills with elements of nature and park history.

(Courtesy of NYC Parks)

Shark Party

Saturdays and Sundays through July 26
11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
New York Aquarium, Brooklyn
More information here

New York Aquarium is hosting two weekends of “shark parties” this month, where families can raise their “shark smarts” with “fin-credible” activities.

There will be “sharks and crafts,” a shark dance party, airbrush shark tattoos and shark games, all while providing an opportunity to learn more about sharks and their habitats.

SummerStage

Shows through Oct. 1
Across the city
More information here

More than 60 shows — most of them free — will take place at 13 locations across the five boroughs this summer as the city’s annual SummerStage program returns for its 40th year.

Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield hosts many of the shows, including benefit concerts that support the City Parks Foundation.

For those interested in the history of the annual event, a new exhibit at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park showcases photographs dating back to the concert festival’s founding. It will be open until Aug. 21.

Movies Under the Stars

Events throughout summer
Across the city
More information here

Movies Under the Stars is back at NYC Parks. The city agency is putting on more than 150 family-friendly film screenings across the five boroughs.

Bring your own blanket, chairs and snacks and find a free event near you here.

Join us for a free flick near you! Bring your blankets to cozy up to one of our Movies Under the Stars across the five boroughs all summer long! pic.twitter.com/pkBmRu4COJ

— NYC Parks (@NYCParks) May 28, 2026

Head to the Beach

Open for the summer
Across the city
More information here

Beaches across the city will stay open through the weekend after Labor Day.

Lifeguards will be on duty every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Swimming is prohibited during their off-hours.

Mark your calendars: NYC beaches officially open for the season on May 23. Get ready for boardwalk walks, post-swim snacks, ocean breezes, and long summer days by the water! pic.twitter.com/VI7ZXboNL8

— NYC Parks (@NYCParks) May 12, 2026

Luna Park

Open for the season
Coney Island, Brooklyn
More information here

Luna Park in Coney Island is open for the season, with its full lineup of rides, treats and “high-flying excitement.”

Visitors can ride the iconic Cyclone roller coaster, play arcade games, get food or shop around.

Queens Night Market

Saturdays from 4 p.m. to midnight through Aug. 22
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
More information here

The Queens Night Market has returned for its 11th season. 

The market is a family-friendly, open-air event that features 100 independent vendors selling merchandise, art and food. There are also performances that organizers say, along with the vendors, celebrate “the rich cultural diversity and heritage of NYC and Queens.”


Smorgasburg

Open for the season
Thursdays and Fridays: World Trade Center
Saturdays: Marsha P. Johnson State Park, Williamsburg
Sundays: Prospect Park, Brooklyn
More information here

The city’s annual warm weather food frenzy is back, and organizers say it features one of their biggest lineups yet.

More than 70 vendors offering global bites, longtime favorites and experimental new concepts will set up in Manhattan every Thursday and Friday — and then in Brooklyn every weekend — through October.

If you can’t make it out to one of their sites, you can still enjoy dining al fresco at a restaurant near you, as the city’s roadway dining program has officially returned for the season.

Celebrate American History

Exhibits open daily
Across Manhattan
Some free, some ticketed

The Fourth of July may be over, but there are still many exhibits open across the city to learn about American history.

At The New York Historical, the new Tang Wing for American Democracy includes new galleries, classrooms, conservation studios, a rooftop terrace and sculpture court.

Check out the Fraunces Tavern Museum, the oldest building in Manhattan, to see the spot where George Washington gave an emotional farewell speech to his officers after the Revolutionary War ended in 1783.

And at the South Street Seaport Museum, “The Promise of Liberty: Words That Shaped a Nation” is a free exhibit with some of the most important documents in American history on display.

There’s an official edition of the U.S. Constitution printed on Sept. 17, 1787, the Emancipation Proclamation, an advanced copy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech from the 1963 March on Washington — without the “I Have a Dream” passage, which he ad-libbed — and items from the women’s suffrage movement, among others.

💫Now open: “The Promise of Liberty: Words That Shaped a Nation!”
This timely exhibition explores how speeches, publications, and personal narratives shaped the ongoing struggle for liberty, equality, and democracy in the US.
Plan your visit today! https://t.co/I5hxfhYOTa pic.twitter.com/RseMW9sItu

— Seaport Museum (@SeaportMuseum) May 27, 2026

‘Greater New York’

Open through Aug. 17
MoMA PS1, Queens
More information here

MoMA PS1 calls its annual “Greater New York” exhibit a “signature survey of artists living and working in the New York City area.”

This year’s sixth edition spans all levels of the museum’s school building and features the work of more than 50 multidisciplinary artists.

Whitney Biennial 2026

Open through Aug. 23
Whitney Museum, Manhattan
More information here

The Whitney Museum says its biennial exhibit is the “the longest-running survey of contemporary art in the United States.”

The 82nd edition features the work of 56 artists and reflects the current moment by examining “interspecies kinships, familial relations, geopolitical entanglements, technological affinities, shared mythologies, and infrastructural supports.”

‘Self-Made: A Century of Inventing Artists’

Open through Sept. 13
American Folk Art Museum, Manhattan
More information here

This exhibit at the always-free American Folk Art Museum on the Upper West Side takes a look at how artists without formal training have depicted and defined themselves on their own terms.

There are 60 artists featured, with paintings, sculptures, photos and other forms, all on display. The selection showcases those who have worked outside the lineage of artistic networks.

(Spectrum News NY1/Roger Clark)

BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!

Events through Sept. 19
Manhattan venues and Brooklyn Bowl
More information here

A slate of annual free performances at Prospect Park has returned for the summer as the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! festival enters its 47th season.

There will be 15 free shows and three benefit shows, all of which support Prospect Park. This year’s lineup includes Common, Patti LaBelle, Katie Yamasaki, Lady Wray, Victory Boyd, and Reggae with Wayne Wonder and Lila Iké.

(Courtesy Edwina

Hay)

‘Flower Power’ at NYBG

Open through Oct. 18
New York Botanical Garden, the Bronx
More information here

This recently-opened exhibit at New York Botanical Garden celebrates flowers as a cultural symbol of peace and love.

In addition to flowers, visitors can expect to see all things related to the “flower power” movement — like art and fashion from the ’60s, including works from Andy Warhol and Milton Glaser. There are also painted Volkswagen vans, giant peace signs and large hand-painted fabric canopies.

Plenty of activities are scattered throughout the exhibit, including friendship bracelet-making and ticketed liquid light shows with live bands.

Flower Power is a new exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden, opening May 23. (Spectrum News NY1)

MoMI LAB

Now open
Museum of the Moving Image, Queens
More information here

Queens’ Museum of the Moving Image has opened a free new space for people to check out newly emerging technology.

The MoMI LAB is located in the museum’s lower level, and welcomes the public to “discover, create, and reflect in this space where people from varied backgrounds can interact with new technologies and each other.”

‘For the Win’

Now open
American Museum of Natural History
More information here

A new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History celebrates “the objects that define athletic greatness.”

There are more than 70 items covering over 150 years of sports history, including gold medals, trophies and championship rings.


New Museum

Open Tuesday to Sunday
235 Bowery, Manhattan
More information here

The New Museum in Manhattan has reopened following a 60,000-square-foot expansion. The new space features twice the gallery size, new elevators, new venues, an entrance plaza and an atrium staircase, among other additions.

Alongside several new commissions, “New Humans: Memories of the Future” will be the inaugural exhibition. The museum says it showcases “works by more than 200 artists, writers, scientists, architects, and filmmakers to explore how dramatic technological and societal changes have spurred new conceptions of what it means to be ‘human.’”