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Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/Peter T
Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/Peter T

The best Columbus Day events in NYC

Check out our list of the best Columbus Day events, including the Columbus Day Parade, comedy shows and trivia

Written by Jennifer Picht & Time Out New York contributors
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If you’re searching for fun Columbus Day events to check out during your day off from work (lucky you), we have a list of Christopher Columbus-themed happenings. One of the most popular things to do happens to be one of the top NYC events in October—the Columbus Day Parade. There’s also a mass celebration at one of the city’s most popular New York attractions—St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Since it’s a federal holiday, you can expect great discounts at some of the best clothing stores in NYC, too.

RECOMMENDED: Full guide to Columbus Day in NYC

Best Columbus Day events in NYC

Watch the Columbus Day Parade

  • Things to do
Watch the Columbus Day Parade
Watch the Columbus Day Parade
He may be one of the most famous failures in history, but 35,000 marchers and nearly 1 million spectators are expected along Fifth Avenue to mark the day when Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas and to celebrate the heritage of the Italian-American community. Sure, it isn’t New York’s glitziest parade, but where else can you catch the tarantella, a frenzied Italian folk dance? Fifth Ave from 44th St to 72nd St.
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Hit the shops at Columbus Circle

Hit the shops at Columbus Circle
Hit the shops at Columbus Circle
Photograph: Courtesy Yelp/Stephen R.
Federal holidays are the perfect excuse to revamp your wardrobe and swap out past-season duds for new threads. Sure, you could check out killer Columbus Day sales online, but why not hunt for discounts at the Shops at Columbus Circle, and tip your hat to the statue of Christopher Columbus while you’re there?

Celebrate Native American culture

  • Things to do
Celebrate Native American culture
Celebrate Native American culture
Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/Grand Canyon National Park’s Photostream
Join Redhawk, the Native American Arts Council of NYC, for a community reclamation of Columbus Day. Local chiefs —like Harry Wallace of the Unkechaug Indian Nation on Long Island—join musicians, spoken-word performers and artists on the grass. Look out for multimedia pieces from Bronx-based Intikana, percussion from Caribbean-originated Kasibahagua Taino Cultural Society and more.
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Paint and workout at the same time

  • Things to do
  • Classes and workshops
Paint and workout at the same time
Paint and workout at the same time
Alternate between body-weight exercises and painting—yes, actual painting, with an easel and stuff—at this outdoor class designed to energize your body and mind.
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Test your Stranger Things knowledge

  • Things to do
  • Trivia
Test your Stranger Things knowledge
Test your Stranger Things knowledge
Curtis Baker/Netflix
Assemble a team of up to four pre-teen Goonies and gather to solve the mysteries of the Upside Down, Silkwood-era haircuts government science conspiracies. Try not to devolve into too many arguments during the rounds of hardcore trivia: you might anger any telekinetic patrons of the bar.

Go ice-skating before the crowds

  • Things to do
Go ice-skating before the crowds
Go ice-skating before the crowds
Photograph: Patina Restaurant Group
Even if the sidewalks are overrun with tourists, you’ll have ample room to skate at the city’s most iconic rink; only 150 people are allowed on the ice at once. That also means that by the time Thanksgiving hits you should prepare for painfully long lines. So when the rink first opens in mid October, make like Chicagoans when voting—go early and often.
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Laugh at this unique Golden Girls revival

  • Puppet shows
Laugh at this unique Golden Girls revival
Laugh at this unique Golden Girls revival
This is happening. Hot on the heels of his Thank You For Being a Friend live show, Jonathan Rockefeller unveils an all-new stage tribute to Miami’s fab four, with puppets. Relive the big-earringed, heavy-sleeved glory of Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia through darling felt effigies at this love letter to one of the greatest (and gayest) TV series of all time.

Ogle some brilliant photography

  • Things to do
  • Exhibitions
Ogle some brilliant photography
Ogle some brilliant photography
Photo Courtesy of Godlis: History is Made at Night
If you yearn for a time when CBGB was not a hopelessly depressing restaurant in the Newark Liberty International Airport, you’re in luck. The photographs of David Godlis, a fixture of the legendary punk club and a faithful chronicler of the musicians who frequented it (like the Ramones, Patti Smith and Blondie), are on display downtown. The images are part of Godlis’s fine art book of the same name, which you can also pick up at the gallery.

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