Tribeca Family Festival Street Fair 2013 & Other Free Tribeca Film Festival Events for NYC Kids

One of our favorite annual spring events, the Tribeca Film Festival, is set to take over downtown Wednesday, April 17 to Sunday, April 28, and as always there are lots of awesome activities for families. The popular Tribeca Family Festival Street Fair takes place on Saturday, April 27. While Mommy Poppins won't have a booth like we did a few years back, many of us plan on attending with our families. Yes it's always crowded but it's also packed with surprises, great things to do and cool entertainment.

In addition to the Family Festival Street Fair, which includes Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day, there will be "drive-in" movies, a mini-film fest of kid-made shorts as well as flicks you can watch online. Here's the scoop on these great events, all of which are FREE.

Tribeca Drive-In
FREE
Brookfield Place a.k.a. World Financial Center Plaza, 200 Vesey Street near West Street
Pre-screening activities begin at 6pm. Movies begin at 8:15pm. Arrive early to snag seats, and bring blankets and jackets! It's not summer yet.

The Birds
Thursday, April 18
Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece celebrates its 50th anniversary this year but it's still pretty frightening. A beautiful new blonde in a small town seems to bring a murder of crows and other angry birds with her. The attack scenes are brutal so this PG-13-rated film is best for tweens and up. Before the movie, there will be live (but tame!) birds flying around and other thematically related activities.

Beetlejuice
Friday, April 19
Tim Burton's kooky 1988 black comedy about recently dead newlyweds (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) employing a veteran ghost (Michael Keaton) to help get interlopes out of their home is a true new classic. Due to risque jokes and a few scary scenes, the PG-rated film is best for tweens and up. Pre-screening, there will be a Tim Burton character costume contest and one lucky audience member will get a Bettlejuice makeover.

Lil Bub & Friendz
Saturday, April 20
Never heard of the title cat-racter? Why she's been called "the most famous cat on the Internet,” which is pretty impressive given the plethora of sites dedicated to kitty cuteness. Fans of the feline can catch the debut of this new G-rated doc dedicated to her charms. And the little furball will even make a live public appearance.

Downtown Youth Behind the Camera
Sunday, April 21 noon-1:30pm
SVA, 209 East 23rd Street between Second and Third Avenues
New this year, young NYC filmmakers show off their short flicks at this screening at the School of Visual Arts.

Tribeca Family Festival Street Fair
FREE
Saturday, April 27 10am-6pm
Greenwich Street between Chambers and Hubert Streets
The main event for families, the Street Fair features live performances, games, contests, bouncy houses and excerpts from Broadway shows like Annie and Wicked. There will also be an interactive movie area where kids can get creative in front of a green screen and enjoy filmmaking activities led by educators from the Museum of the Moving Image and Take Two Film Academy. Other attractions include the Bubble Garden, kite making and flying, roaming street performers, storytelling, character meet and greets, live kindie bands, puppet shows, art projects and street games. And we haven't even mentioned all of the cool vendors, tasty food and a no-cost screening of The Smurfs at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. As we said before, this massive block party gets mobbed so go as early as you can. But it's worth braving the crowds—it's truly an iconic NYC experience and an entire day of FREE fun.

Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day
FREE
Saturday, April 27 10am-6pm
North Moore Street between Greenwich and West Streets
Same date and time, this modest, one-block offshoot of the main Street Fair features interactive sports-related games, demos and activities, and appearances by local teams, athletes, mascots and sports personalities. This year, pro soccer team the New York Red Bulls will be teaching tricks of the trade, the Staten Island Yankees will have an inflatable Skee-ball station, plus there will be opportunities to try golf, Double Dutch, fencing, lacrosse, Frisbee, badminton and more.

Tribeca Online Film Festival
FREE
Thursday, April 18-Sunday, April 28
For the fourth year in a row, the fest will offer movies online, which saves parents the cost of a sitter. The list of titles will be available on Thursday, April 18 here. You must create an account and log in, and you'll even be able to vote for your favorites. Films are only screened for a short time and allotted a limited number of screenings. Also here's something fun for children: Tribeca Kids Access, an online channel where local fifth through eighth graders report on all the happenings at the Film Fest from their unique point of view.

For more information about any of these events, visit tribecafilm.com/family. You can also follow the fest on Twitter.

There are lots of other fun festivals and fairs going on around town. Check out our roundup of Spring Festivals or browse our Event Calendar.