Things to do on Memorial Day Weekend in New York

There is always a lot going on in New York City.  Memorial Day weekend is no exception.  There are parades, parties and event throughout the Big Apple.  These range from somber to fun to spectacular.  When it comes to parades, New York has more than a few to choose from, with each borough putting on multiple marches over the course of the weekend.  These offerings include some of the country’s largest Memorial Day parades.  The holiday is marked in the city’s iconic areas: from Times Square to the Statue of Liberty.

Here is the best that New York City has to offer on Memorial Day weekend:

Billed as the nation’s largest Memorial Day parade, the march through the Queens neighborhoods of Little Neck and Douglaston draws spectators and participants from around the city and the country.  This is the 83rd year that the Little Neck parade has taken place.  This quiet corner of NYC is surprisingly suburban-looking (not the type of landscape normally associated with the Big Apple).  It is a great opportunity to see an impressive parade while getting a behind the scenes look at life in the outer boroughs.   The parade kicks off at 2 p.m. on Memorial Day.

Memorial week is Fleet Week in New York.  Starting on May 26th, there will be demonstrations, tours and performances related to the sea-going branches of the armed forces.  A parade of ships on the Hudson River (best viewed from Manhattan’s riverside) kicks off a week of free events.  There are free daily ship tours on Staten Island, parades all day on Memorial Day, and performances by Navy and Marine marching bands.

Of course, there are plenty of non-military related activities and events in the Big Apple during late May.  Block parties and outdoor art shows take place around the city, with many of the most accessible happening in the borough of Manhattan.  These include the Waverly Place Festival and the Lower East Side Art Festival.  In addition to these two notables, a huge outdoor art gallery will be set up in Washington Square.

The end of May brings several high-brow entertainment options.  The most notable is the annual free Memorial Day concert given by the New York Philharmonic.  The event will be held in the Church of Saint John the Divine with seats being awarded on a first-come-first-served basis.  If the weather is dry, the concert will be broadcast to people on the lawn outside the  church as well.  The curtain goes up at 8 p.m. on Memorial Day, but would-be attendees need to arrive much earlier to assure themselves on a good seat.

For those who prefer pop to classical, the top two contestants on this year’s American Idol will be performing early on Friday morning (May 28th) as part of the NBC Today Show Summer Concert Series.  The show will take place at 7 a.m. on the plaza near Rockefeller Center.  There is no admission fee.  ABC’s Good Morning America offers a similar free option when they bring country stars Sugarland to the stage in Central Park at the exact same time that the Idols take the stage.

Of course, all the museums, shopping streets and theaters will be operating as usual during the weekend, giving visitors a virtually limitless amount of activities to choose from. If you plan on staying even longer, find some great NYC Hotel Deals that are currently available.