Quick! A Few Free (and Almost Free) Things to do in NYC Before Summer's End

September 21st is the last day of summer. Stop crying about it and start reading about it, because you have exactly 3 weeks to get your act together and get your Recessionist summer on. Here are some cheap things to do before you break out the corduroy and wool.

Explore Governor's Island:

Rent a bike for free (1 hour) on Fridays through October 9th and take a ride on the island's 2.2-mile waterfront promenade. The island is completely carless, and only accessible by a free ferry from Manhattan or Brooklyn.

If you're lucky you'll catch one of the art exhibits hosted there during summer months. (Creative Time’s show, “This World & Nearer Ones,” is up through September 20.)

Have a High Time:

A park that offers natural beauty, art, and a history lesson, the High Line opened on June 8th to hordes of New Yorkers who couldn't wait to get off the ground.







What's now wildflowers and fountains was for the past 25+ years an abandoned and overgrown train track. From the 1930s until 1980 it ran through the meatpacking district in Manhattan, bringing freight from 34th St. to Gansevoort St downtown.

The track was all set to be demolished (thanks , Giuliani) until the Friends of the High Line stepped in and got that thing good and parkified. Read more about the park and the process in this New York Times article.

Take Yourself Out To The Ballgame:

The Brooklyn Cyclones' season ends around labor day. Tickets are only $7.50. The Wonder Wheel is open through labor day as well.

Warm Up at P.S.1

P.S.1, in Long Island City, Queens, holds a weekly dancefest to soundtrack of fun, experimental music, held in the museum’s annually redesigned courtyard. This year it's a bedouin tent designed by the architecture firm MOS. Remaining shows: DJ Spun on Sept 5.

Green It Up:

Whether or not you even buy, all those vitamins in the air at local Greenmarkets have gotta be good for you, right?. Plus they are always samples! Check out the markets at Union Square (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday), Tompkins Square (Sundays), Tribeca (Saturdays), Tucker Square (Thursdays and Saturdays), Stuyveant Town (Sundays), Columbia (Sundays) and 57th St. (Saturdays). and catch great views of Lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the New York Harbor for free.

Take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry and catch the very best kind of views (the free kind) of Lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the New York Harbor.

Check out the Brooklyn Public Library's Free Summer Concert Series:
Up next are the Mandingo Ambassadors on Sept 12th, followed by Harry and the Potters on Sept 26th.

Roosevelt Island's Riverwalk Commons also offers free summer concerts, through Labor Day. See their calendar here, or on the Islander blog.