Marcus Garvey Park, the 20-acre outcrop between 120th and 124th Streets in Harlem, runs a free September calendar out of its Recreation Center rooms. Every event listed here costs nothing — no ticket, no cover, no membership.
- Hula Hoop Aerobics — Sat Sept 12 and Sat Sept 19, 12:30–1:30 p.m., Multi-Use Room B. Shape Up NYC dance-fitness with hoops.
- FREE Haitian Folkloric Dance Summer Performance Intensive — Sat Sept 12, 1:00–3:30 p.m., Multi-Use Room B. A half-day of Haitian folkloric dance, staged as a free public performance.
- Harlem Run: Monday Night Run — Mondays Sept 14, 21, and 28 (continues Oct 5 and 12), 6:45–8:30 p.m., in the park. Free group run, walking pace welcome.
- Hispanic Heritage Month Paint Night — Fri Sept 18, 5:00–8:30 p.m., Multi-Use Room A. Free arts-and-crafts evening.
- MOTHERSHIP EIGHT Dance & Music Festival — Sat Sept 19, 3:00–7:00 p.m., Multi-Use Room B. Free dance and music festival.
The park is the one with the schist outcrop you can see from the 2/3 train and the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater tucked behind it. It was called Mount Morris Park until 1973, when it was renamed for the Jamaican-born organizer whose parade has come up Malcolm X Boulevard past its gates for decades.
Two things worth noting. The folkloric dance intensive is the rare free slot that asks something of you — three and a half hours of it — and it lands on the same afternoon as hoop aerobics, so you can stack them. And Harlem Run has been putting people around this park on Monday nights for years; it is free, it is at 6:45 sharp, and it is the easiest way to see the park after dark without being the only person there.