What To Do: Labor Day Weekend
What To Do Labor Day Weekend: You gotta get creative to get away from the Weber Grill on Labor Day Weekend. But here’s 20 ways to say good bye to summer … school can wait!
Chihuly Nights, New York Botanical Garden, Thurs-Sat, through October: 6:30-10:30pm: NYBG’s current installation of 20 large scale sculptures from renowned artist Dale Chihuly take on are spectacularly illuminated amid the garden’s sweeping vistas at these evening events. Stroll the grounds and enjoy performance artists, musicians, food and an Avion Tequila cocktail while you are there. (2900 Southern Blvd. Bronx; www.nybg.org)
Bike & run! 7th Annual Church Tavern Biathlon – Mon, 9/4: 9:30am: This course for this 7 mile bike and 4 mile run travels on hilly secondary roads, circles Truesdale Lake and offers a scenic vista of Lewisboro from Mount Church Tavern. Be prepared for a 602-foot ascent on the bike course and a 414-foot ascent on the run. There is also a run or walk only race. The race ends with a free BBQ, music, kids activities and medals for all. St. John’s Episcopal Church sponsors the race to benefit the Community Center of Northern Westchester. (82 Spring St., S. Salem; more here.)
Muscoot Hike, Sat, 9/2: 9am: Meet at the reception center for a hike through the back roads of the farm. Recommended for ages 8 & up. (51 Rt. 100, Katonah)
Spirit of the Sound Lighthouse Cruise West – Sat, 9/2: 9am-4pm: The Norwalk Aquarium’s Spirit of the Sound catamaran’s 6 hour Western Long Island Lighthouse Cruise makes passes at Greens Ledge, Sheffield Island, Stamford Harbor, Great Captain Island, Execution Rocks, Stepping Stones, Sands Point and Eaton Neck. (10 N. Water St., Norwalk, CT; www.maritimeaquarium.org)
Lime Rock Park Historic Festival, Lakeville, CT – Fri-Mon: 9/1-4: check times: The east coast’s premier vintage racing and concours event presents three days of on-track racing. With over 250 cars and drivers, parading and racing everything from pre-WWI racers to the best competition machines from the 1920s to the 1970s. (60 White Hollow Rd., Lakeville, CT: www.limerock.com)
CORNucopia at Philipsburg Manor – Sat-Mon, 9/2-4: 10am-5pm: This novel corn festival offers an inspired bounty of corn-centric delicacies (corn bread, salsa, chips, chili, ice cream and popcorn) demonstrations (corn grinding & cooking) games and crafts (Konk-a-Crow, Ring-a Cob) corn-shucking races and a mini maize-maze. Plus house tours, bluegrass and folk music and English country dancing in the barn. (381 N. Broadway, Sleepy Hollow; www.hudsonvalley.org)
Pride of the Hudson, West Point Fireworks Cruise, Sun, 9/3: 7:30pm: Cruise the Hudson and watch the West Point Fireworks display on this 2 hour narrated cruise aboard the indoor/outdoor river cruiser, Pride of the Hudson. (Blu Pointe Landing, 100 Front St., Newburgh; www.prideofthehudson.com)
Public Sails on the Schooner Soundwaters – Fri-Sun, 9/1-10/1: check times: Board the 80’ Tall Schooner Soundwaters, the ship that Pete Seeger made famous, for a two-hour afternoon journey on the Long Island Sound. The Schooner Soundwaters seats 40 and also offers Sunset sails on Fridays and Saturdays and Fireworks Sails on 6/30 & 7/1. (Boccuzzi Park at Southfield, 166 Southfield Ave., Stamford, CT; www.soundwaters.org)
Sheffield Island Lighthouse Cruises, Norwalk Harbor – weekends through 9/25: 2 & 3:30pm: Board the 45-foot C.J. Toth catamaran for a cruise to Sheffield Island on the Long Island Sound for a lighthouse tour, a hike through Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge and a picnic and beach front activities. Sails run on weekends & holidays in June and September and daily in July & August. (Norwalk Seaport Association Dock, 4 North Water St., Norwalk, CT; www.seaport.org)
Lyndhurst Mansion Tours, Tarrytown – Thurs-Mon, through 9/24: 10am-4pm: Take a guided tour of the historic Lyndhurst mansion overlooking the Hudson River. The Gothic Revival mansion has been used as a movie set for six major motion pictures including House of Dark Shadows (1970), Reversal of Fortune (1990), Cradle Will Rock (1999) and Winter’s Tale (2013). It was built in 1938 by William Paulding, a former NYC Mayor, and purchased by Union Pacific Railroad tycoon Jay Gould in 1880. (635 S. Broadway, Tarrytown; www.lyndhurst.org)
What To Do Bucket List! PepsiCo Sculpture Gardens Reopen – Sat-Sun: 10am-4pm through 10/31: The Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo’s World Headquarters in Purchase is open to the public from April 1 through October 31. The Gardens features 45 large-scale outdoor pieces from the greatest sculptors of the 20th century. Including Henry Moore and Alexander Calder. Plus 6,000 trees from 38 species, a Koi pond, fountains, formal gardens with topiary, hedges and thousands of flowering bulbs. Read more about this WTD Bucket List-er!
Hilltop Hanover Farm Stand & U-Pick – Fri-Sun through 11/19: Offers fresh, farm-grown produce, seasonal vegetables, herbs and cut flowers. Each week’s vegetables available for purchase are listed on their website. See our Farmer’s Market Guide for more information. (1271 Hanover Street , Yorktown Heights, 914.962.2368; www.hilltophanoverfarm.org)
What To Do Bucket List! Kykuit Tours, Thurs-Sun, 8/31-9/30, Wed-Mon, 10/2-31 & Thurs-Sun, 11/2-12:This hilltop paradise, now a historic site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, was home to four generations of the Rockefeller family. Read our review of the guided tours of the six-story stone house; the terraced gardens with Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller’s collection of 20th-century sculptures; the underground art galleries featuring a collection of Picasso tapestries; and the Coach Barn’s classic automobiles and horse-drawn carriages. (381 N. Broadway, Sleepy Hollow: www.hudsonvalley.org)
Essex Steam Train & Riverboat Ride, Weekends 9/1-10/22: Take a 2 ½ hour narrated train and riverboat ride through what the Nature Conservancy calls “one of the last great places on earth,” the Connecticut River Valley. The train passes farms, waterfalls, and wetland habitats with blue heron and egrets. The riverboat cruise on the Connecticut River passes the historic Gillette Castle, Goodspeed Opera House and Haddam Swing Bridge. Check out their special Dinner Train, Riverboat Lunch and Sunset Excursions. (1 Railroad Ave., Essex, CT; www.essexsteamtrain.com)
What To Do Bucket List! Rockefeller State Park Preserve: Our favorite hiking in the area is the 25 miles of carriage paths on 1400 acres of Rockefeller State Park Preserve in Pleasantville. These low-impact, impeccably maintained trails offer a range of hikes from flat walks and moderate grades to a steep climb. The deep forest, river and lakeside trails never feel too manicured. And it doesn’t take long to get that “back to nature” feeling. Read more about this WTD Bucket List-er!
Planetarium Shows, Hudson River Museum – Sat-Sun: 12:30, 2 & 3:30pm: HRM presents three planetarium show each weekend from a selection of ten shows for ages 5+ and 8+. The shows range from One-World, One Sky, a collaboration between Sesame Street and the Liberty Science Center featuring Big Bird and Elmo to We Are Aliens, a 360 ° digital planetarium show to The Sky tonight, a live tour of the heavens with a planetarium educator. (511 Warburton Ave., Yonkers; www.hrm.org)
Annie, Westchester Broadway Theatre – Thurs, 6/29- Sun, 9/10: One of the world’s best-loved musicals and winner of seven Tony Awards returns to WBT! Featuring: “It’s the Hard-Knock Life”, “Easy Street”, “I Don’t Need Anything But You” and “Tomorrow.” (One Broadway Plaza, Elmsford; www.broadwaytheatre.com)
US Open, Arthur Ashe Stadium – Fri-Mon, 9/1-4: 11am-10pm-: Take a break from the Weber Grill and head down to Arthur Ashe Stadium to see the world’s greatest tennis tournament. (OK so we’re NEWYORKcentric). Check daily schedule for your favorite players. (124-02 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing; www.usopen.org)
Jones Beach Theatre, Matchbox Twenty & Counting Crows – Thurs, 8/31: 8pm: These two bands teamed up for a co-headlining tour last summer. They’re back at it again with songs like “3AM”, “Mr. Jones and “Round Here”. (895 Bay Pkwy., Wantagh: www.jonesbeach.com)
LAST WEEKEND! The General From America, HVSF at Boscoble – Fri, 8/4-Sun, 9/3: HVSF launches its new series HVStories that focuses on the history, people and culture of the Hudson Valley, Tony, OBIE and Drama Desk-award winning Director Penny Metropulos’s production of Richard Nelson’s The General From America. The play retells the story of Benedict Arnold’s famous defection and flight from West Point – which you can see across the river from the Boscobel grounds. Nelson also wrote the screenplay for Hyde Park on Hudsonstarring Bill Murray and Laura Linney. His trio of plays, The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family was produced this winter at the Public Theater in New York. (Boscobel, 1601 Rt. 9D, Garrison; www.hvshakespeare.org)
LAST WEEKEND! Love’s Labours Lost, HVSF at Boscobel – Fri, 8/4 – Sun, 9/3: The King of Navarre and his lords have sworn off the pleasures of life to pursue their studies, but can their oaths hold up when a princess and her ladies come to town? In this co-production with New York’s The Acting Company, Ian Belknap, will direct Shakespeare’s comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost featuring HVSF’s Conservatory Company, an intensive training program for early-career actors. (Boscobel, 1601 Rt. 9D, Garrison; www.hvshakespeare.org)
Renaissance Faire, Tuxedo Park – Sat-Sun & Labor Day, 8/5-10/1: 10am-7pm: A romp through Elizabethan England complete with 16th Century games, rides, arts, crafts, food, music and dance in Tuxedo Park. There’s mime, magic, music, comedy and storytellers, pirates, fairies, pole dancing, piping, acrobats, aerialists, a fire circus, birds of prey, sword fighting, knife throwing and the big one … jousting. Check for theme weekends & special events. (600 Rt. 17A, Tuxedo Park; www.renfair.com)
Dunkirk in IMAX, Norwalk Aquarium – Mon-Thurs: 7pm & Fri-Sun 7 & 9:30pm: Christopher Nolan shot his hit new movie Dunkirk with IMAX cameras. You can see it in IMAX at the Norwalk Aquarium. Dunkirk tells the true story of the heroic evacuation in May 1940 of some 338,000 Allied soldiers trapped on the English Channel shoreline by an advancing German army. PG-13. (10 N. Water St., Norwalk, www.maritimeaquarium.org)
Planetarium Shows, Hudson River Museum – Sat-Sun: 12:30, 2 & 3:30pm: HRM presents three planetarium show each weekend from a selection of ten shows for ages 5+ and 8+. The shows range from One-World, One Sky, a collaboration between Sesame Street and the Liberty Science Center featuring Big Bird and Elmo to We Are Aliens, a 360 ° digital planetarium show to The Sky tonight, a live tour of the heavens with a planetarium educator. (511 Warburton Ave., Yonkers; www.hrm.org)
Sign up for our weekly newsletter: for townies, culture vultures, foodies and locavores.
Happy autumn. Like us on Facebook Amigos