NYC Parks has posted its fall festival calendar, and every entry on it is free. Ten listings run from the first weekend in October through Halloween: a three-day Lenape pow wow in Prospect Park, a pumpkin patch on the Rockaway boardwalk, and a cluster of harvest and Halloween parties that are almost all in the Bronx. Nothing requires a ticket.

The dates

  • Sat.–Mon., Oct. 3–5, 12–6 p.m. — Third United Lenape / Lunáapeew Nations Pow Wow, Lefrak Center at Lakeside, Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Three days of dancing, drumming and food hosted by the original Lenape peoples of this land.
  • Sat., Oct. 3, 1–4 p.m. — Fort Totten Fall Festival, Parade Grounds at Fort Totten Park, Queens. Games, performers, a silent disco.
  • Sat., Oct. 10, 12–4 p.m. — Boo Bash in the Bronx, St. James Park, Bronx. Kids’ Halloween party, accessible location.
  • Mon., Oct. 12, 12–4 p.m. — Rockaway Fall Festival, Beach 17 O’Donohue Park on the Rockaway Beach boardwalk, Queens. Pumpkin maze, pumpkin patch, mechanical rides, arts and crafts, games, music, giveaways, light refreshments.
  • Sat., Oct. 17, 12–3 p.m. — Fall Fiesta, Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center, Bronx. Dogs explicitly invited.
  • Sat., Oct. 17, 12–4 p.m. — The Great Pumpkin Spooktacular, Soundview Park entrance at Lafayette and Morrison avenues, Bronx.
  • Sat., Oct. 24, 12–4 p.m. — Spooktacular Fiesta, Loreto Playground, Bronx. Accessible location.
  • Sat., Oct. 31, 1–4 p.m. — Pumpkin Palooza, St. Mary’s Park basketball courts, Bronx. Halloween afternoon, accessible location.

How to use it

  • Every listing carries Parks’ “Free!” marker and is open to the public. No registration is mentioned for any of them.
  • The full calendar filters by borough, neighborhood, accessibility and date, so you can cut it down to one borough in two clicks.
  • Oct. 12 is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which makes the Rockaway Fall Festival the one that lands on a school holiday — a free pumpkin patch plus rides at the beach, no admission.
  • Four of the eight single-day festivals are in the Bronx; Brooklyn and Queens get one marquee date each and Staten Island gets none, so take that into account before you promise a kid a pumpkin.

The Rockaway date is the best of the bunch: a boardwalk pumpkin patch with rides and music, on a Monday holiday, free. The Oct. 3 weekend is the crowded one — the pow wow runs three days in Prospect Park and Fort Totten holds its own festival in Queens the same afternoon. Everything after that is a Bronx-heavy October, which is worth knowing if you don’t live in one.