Lots of events on today, making the most of the last few weekends of summer. We’ll get straight into them:
On right now over at Pier 84 (next to the Intrepid) the 15th annual Hudson River Park’s Blues BBQ Festival is happening. The event has a number of top American blues and roots musicians performing alongside three top BBQ restaurants from around the city. It’ll be on all afternoon, with the last performer taking the stage at 7:30pm.
Once you’ve had enough BBQ and music, right next door on the deck of the Intrepid the first of three Astronomy Nights at the Intrepid Museum is on. Running from 7:30pm to 10:30pm, the night will feature a number of local astronomers with high-powered telescopes showing the night, as well as talks and demonstrations throughout the museum. Tonight is significant because Saturn and Mars will apparently be very close together in the sky, so should be an interesting sight. The night is free, requiring online registration to attend, but the site still says “registration coming soon”, so your guess is as good as ours… It’ll also be on again in two weeks, and again another two weeks after that.
Alternatively if astronomy isn’t your thing, there’s another food-related festival on tonight. If there’s one thing 9th Ave is known for (other than roadwork) it’s Thai food, so tonight’s Thaithentic Food & Culture Festival should be popular, bringing together over 30 Thai restaurants, as well as other Thai brands and vendors. It’s $45 for admission at 8pm, which gets you samplings of food from the range of vendors there, as well as access to the open bar. Alternatively, $70 buys a VIP ticket, which gives you early access at 7pm, as well as access to the VIP lounge. It’s all happening inside the Atelier building on W 42nd St, between 10th & 11th Aves, so not to far from the other things on over by the river.
Lots to do!