Things To Do in NYC this Weekend with Kids: San Gennaro, Concerts, Monarchs

Free family-friendly festival Kids Fest: Stages in the Square returns this weekend to Madison Square Park.  Photo courtesy of Madison Square Park
Free family-friendly festival Kids Fest: Stages in the Square returns this weekend to Madison Square Park. Photo courtesy of Madison Square Park
9/11/19 - By Drew Kristofik

NYC is aflutter with Monarch madness this weekend as the butterflies make their yearly migratory pitstop in the city. Learn more at the Monarch Celebration on Saturday on Randall's Island  (consider it a warmup for the return of the American Museum of Natural History's popular annual butterfly exhibit, opening October 12). Creatures with a somewhat more impressive wingspan gather at the annual Raptor Fest in Central Park on Saturday. And non-winged creatures get a moment in the sun when moles invade Skirball Center in Philippe Quesne's punk rock performance. (Kids can parade with the moles through Greenwich Village on Thursday, Sept 12, at 2pm, too!)

Big celebrations include Madison Square Park's Stages in the Square on Saturday, with a packed roster of live performances, the cannoli-fueled crush that is Little Italy's San Gennaro Festival, and the start of Morningside Lights' weeklong festivities, which culminate next weekend (September 21) with the annual lantern-lit parade.

The Bronx is action-packed this weekend: Head to City Island for the Fall Arts and Crafts fair (make a day of it with dinner at one of the island's kid-friendly restaurants). Or visit Wave Hill's weekend-long family art project. All that, plus Boogie on the Blvd returns on Sunday to shut down the Grand Concourse center lanes between 162nd and 170th Streets.

Brooklyn's in party mode, too, with the Brooklyn United Back-to School extravaganza, the One Crown Heights Neighborhood Fest, and Old Stone House's annual Bike Jumble. And on Governors Island, kids can create sustainable energy machineswatch amazing WWI re-enactments, or participate in the annual African Film Fest—or all three!

As always, keep our September Go List handy, and refer to the full Mommy Poppins calendar for more fall fun!

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Places featured in this article:


Miller Theater at Columbia University

Skirball Center for The Performing Arts