Halloween season is here as enter the month of October and so is New York City’s month-long celebration of architecture and design, Archtober. This week, get outside to enjoy the crisp fall weather and connect to old fashioned New York City traditions in Bryant Park, peer into the future at a technology infused arts festival, shop Brooklyn’s largest street fair, and more!

Friday, September 27th

Break out your cowboy boots for some old fashioned square dancing in Bryant Park. New York City actually has a history of square dancing which used to draw thousands of people to Central Park to dance to the famous caller, Ed Durlacher. From 5:00PM to 10:00 PM, New Yorkers can relive those festivities with dancing, live music, activities, a cowboy hat giveaway for the first 1,000 people, cornhole competitions, food and beverage from Hester Street Fair, and mechanical bull riding! You don’t need experience or a partner to join this free event!

The New York Film Festival is in full swing at Lincoln Center. For two weeks a series of diverse films from restored black and white classics and new dramatic features to virtual reality documentaries will be screened. You can see the full schedule here!

Join a jam session in Brooklyn at The Park Slope Bluegrass and Old-Time Jamboree. Hosted at the Old Stone House and Washington Park, this musical festival will feature workshops for banjo, fiddle, songwriting and mandolin, and performances by James Reams & The Barnstormers, The Fabulous Fienberg Brothers, The Wretched Remnants and more!

Saturday, September 28th

Chan Sook Choi, Yangjiri, 2018, two-channel video installation, mixed media, Courtesy of Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery

Be part of a private, curator led tour of Technoimagination, an immersive and interactive art exhibition on display for the Korean Media Arts Festival. Explore three floors of groundbreaking installations by prominent Korean new media artists with curator Odelette Cho. Cho will take guest through the creative multi-sensory environments that blend the worlds of art and science. You can join this tour for free if you are an Untapped Cities Insider! Not an Insider yet? Become a member today to gain free access to behind-the-scenes tours all year long! Already a member? Book here!

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Venture to The Middle of Nowehere with Atlas Obscura and Whitesbog Historic Village for an immersive experience in the storied landscape of the New Jersey Pine Barrens through film, music, and artwork. The overnight art excursion will take place on a 3000-acre fallowed blueberry and cranberry farm. Conceived and curated by filmmaker David Scott Kessler, the evening will feature contemporary and site-specific art works on the ground, live musical performances and film screenings. The festivities continue well into the night with camping at nearby Mt. Misery, where there will be a bonfire for more music and storytelling. Untapped Cities Insiders can go for free using the code found on this page!

Sunday, September 29th

Fort Tyron Park will transform this Sunday for a Medieval Festival. Park visitors will get to explore the customs and spirit of the Middle Ages in a medieval market town decorated with bright banners and processional flags. Performers, guests and festival goers will be dressed in medieval costume. Visitors are greeted by authentic medieval music, dance, magic, and minstrels, as well as jugglers and jesters. The afternoon is concluded with a thrilling joust between four knights on horseback. Costumed vendors will be on hand to demonstrate and sell a wide variety of medieval crafts as well as food and drink.

Find a great deal at the Atlantic Antic, the largest and oldest street festival in Brooklyn. The Atlantic Antic celebrates the heritage of Brooklyn with a festival spanning four different neighborhoods, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Downtown Brooklyn. There will be food and merchandise vendors, live music, and dance performances!

Tuesday, October 1st

Celebrate the launch of Archtober, New York City’s month long series of events honoring architecture and design. Organizations all over the five boroughs will be hosting events all-month long including buildings tours, lectures, talks, and exhibitions. Today, celebrate Fraunces Tavern’s 300th birthday, learn how to build better cities with crowdfunding, and more!

Join a weekday tour of the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal. While walking around on of New York City’s most iconic buildings, guests on this tour will discover the landmark’s hidden treasures such as hidden tennis courts, glass walkways, priceless fixtures and more!

Tour of the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal

Wednesday, October 2nd

Hop aboard Untapped Cities’ Underground Tour of the NYC Subway! On this expert led tour, guests will travel through stations abandoned and in use to unravel more than 100 year of transportation history. Making stops around Lower Manhattan, this tour will trace the subway from its very beginning at City Hall where the first grandiose station was built.

Join a happy hour and tour of FDR Four Freedoms Park. As part of Archtober, Executive Director of Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Robert Balder, and the FDR Four Freedoms Park Conservancy’s former Director of Design and Planning, Stephen Martin, will lead guests on a tour detailing the design philosophy of America’s preeminent modernist architect and the changing landscape of Roosevelt Island and New York City. An informal happy hour reception with wine, beer, and snacks will follow the tour for an opportunity to mix and mingle with fellow architecture and design enthusiasts. If you are an Untapped Cities Insider, you can join the tour for free! Already a member? Book here!

Tonight, the Brooklyn Historical society kicks off its new lecture series, 400 Years of Inequality, centered on the history of racial inequality in America over the past 400 years. The program includes programs for adults, families, and educators, as well as a featured selection of books in our Gift Shop on Pierrepont Street. The debut lecture is Sowing Resolution: The Case for Reparations in Action featuring a panel of experts from the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Social Science Research Council.

Attend the opening of Fringe Cities: Legacies of Renewal in the Small American City, a new exhibition at the Center for Architecture. Curated and designed by MASS Design Group, the exhibition explores small cities on the periphery of large metropolises, many of which were severely impacted by urban renewal between 1949 and 1974. While many large cities have rebounded from the social and spatial traumas of urban renewal, smaller cities often continue to struggle with the same problems that urban renewal sought to resolve.

See Untapped Cities’ upcoming public tours and Insider events!