Free NYC Events This Week

NYC's biggest waterfront Oktoberfest at Pier 15 is in its home stretch, running daily through Halloween. Free general admission with an online RSVP - a 10,000-square-foot venue with Brooklyn and Williamsburg Bridge views, Hofbrau and Weihenstephan on tap, brats, giant pretzels, oompah music, and stein-holding contests. Entry is free; beer and food are for sale. Last call for the season.

Archtober, NYC's month-long architecture and design festival, continues with free "Building of the Day" tours, walking tours, lectures, and exhibitions across all five boroughs, organized by the Center for Architecture. Most events are free with registration. A great way to see the city through an architect's eyes as the fall color peaks.

Times Square transforms into a Diwali celebration between 46th and 47th Streets - music, dance performances, cultural showcases, and the Festival of Lights brought to the heart of Midtown. One of the largest Diwali celebrations outside India. Free admission, open to all.

The free fall festival returns to Governors Island with a massive pumpkin patch in historic Nolan Park - and you take home one free pumpkin per household (bring a tote bag). Pumpkin painting, trick-or-treating at the historic houses, ghost tours, fall foliage walks, a Brooklyn Book Bodega reading nook, and folk music curated by Porch Stomp. Rain or shine. One of the best free family days of the fall.

Second and final day of Pumpkin Point. If Saturday's crowds were too much, Sunday is the quieter pick. Same free pumpkin, same trick-or-treating and ghost tours. The ferry from the Battery Maritime Building runs regularly; the island is free to explore once you land.

Smorgasburg's Sunday session at Breeze Hill in Prospect Park winds toward the end of its outdoor season. Free to enter and browse dozens of food vendors. Peak fall foliage in the park makes this one of the prettiest Sundays of the year to go.

The week before Halloween is packed with free family events across the city - NYC Parks runs Halloween festivals, pumpkin patches, and trick-or-treat trails in parks across all five boroughs, and many neighborhood business districts host free trick-or-treating on Halloween afternoon. Check the NYC Parks events calendar for the free Halloween happenings near you.

The biggest Halloween parade in the world marches up Sixth Avenue from King Street to West 15th Street starting at 7pm. Giant puppets, 50+ bands, dancers, and tens of thousands of costumed New Yorkers. Free to watch from the sidewalks - and free to march if you show up in costume at the staging area on Sixth Avenue below Spring Street. One of the great free spectacles of the NYC year.

Watermark's Oktoberfest wraps its seven-week run on Halloween night. Free RSVP entry for one last stein by the water, with the East River and the bridges lit up behind you. Beer and food for sale.

The TCS New York City Marathon runs through all five boroughs on the first Sunday of November. Watching from the street is free and one of the most electric days in the city. Best free spots: Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn (miles 3-7, runners still bunched), Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene (mile 8, best atmosphere on the course), Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg (mile 11), First Avenue on the Upper East Side (the loudest), and Central Park South for the final stretch. Grandstand seats cost money; the sidewalk does not.

The New York Botanical Garden's Día de los Muertos celebration enters its final weekend - ofrendas, marigold displays, and cultural programming across the grounds. Grounds admission is free for NYC residents all day on Wednesdays, and free to everyone 10-11am Wednesdays, so plan a Wednesday visit to see it for nothing. Weekend admission is paid.

The 82nd annual Columbus Day Parade marched up Fifth Avenue from 44th to 72nd Street with high school bands, folk dance troupes, floats, and red-carpet performances between 67th and 69th Streets - a celebration of Italian-American heritage.

The 24th annual Open House New York Weekend unlocked 300+ sites across all five boroughs - the Flatiron Building at dusk, the DOT Sign Shop, Rockefeller Center Gardens, Brooklyn Army Terminal, and hundreds more. Most sites were free drop-in. The single best weekend of the year to see inside buildings normally closed to the public.

The 36th annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade brought hundreds of costumed dogs to the East Village - the largest dog costume parade in the world. Free to watch, and every bit as absurd and wonderful as it sounds.