Parades and ping pong tournaments: 15 things to do this Labor Day weekend

By Ethan Jakob Craft

The dreaded end of summer is nigh. But at least it brings with it a nice, long Labor Day weekend and a full menu of activities. We’ve got you covered from Friday afternoon through Monday night: There’s a unicycle festival, there’s pub trivia, there are night markets and, of course, the parades. 

Hang in there, we’re in the home stretch. Here is what you can look forward to in Brooklyn this weekend:

Friday, September 2

Watch (or join) the NYC Unicycle Festival
2 p.m.
The 13th annual NYC Unicycle Festival is back in the city this weekend for four straight days of “one-wheel madness.” On Friday participants will partake in a four-hour endurance ride from the Brooklyn Bridge to Coney Island; if you can’t make it, the festival is also hosting other rides, challenges and “learn-to-unicycle” classes in both Manhattan and Queens throughout the weekend. If you’re a unicyclist and plan on participating, make sure to sign the event’s waiver online before you show up.

Eat, drink and jam at a new night market
6 p.m.
The new Lunar Bazaar Market will be popping up in Brooklyn Friday night. Taking over a space at 72 Noble Street in Greenpoint, the market promises “a great variety of food, crafts, clothing, beauty products, art, and much much more,” plus a live DJ on site, free parking nearby, and a free snack bar available for all in attendance. The Lunar Bazaar itself is also free to attend.

Chill out with meditation in the park
6:30 p.m.
There’s a free meditation session in Prospect Park this Friday, so if you need to unwind after a tiring week, head to one of the city’s best green spaces at 6:30 for an hour of much-needed relaxation. Hosted by the Vajradhara Meditation Center, participants will meet near the northern tip of the park on September 2 and each subsequent Friday through the end of the month, not far from the Meadowport Arch, though the organizers have a more detailed map available online. All are welcome, including children and pets, and it’s free to attend.

Attend a ‘Harry Styles Sketch Show Spectacular’
7 p.m.
Harry Styles is in the midst of playing more than a dozen shows at Madison Square Garden right now, though if you don’t have a ticket or simply can’t afford the $1,000-and-up resale prices, the next best thing is happening right here in Kings County on Friday night, when the Brooklyn Comedy Collective in Williamsburg will host its “Harry Styles Sketch Show Spectacular.” Tickets are available for the 7 o’clock show for $15 each, with seating available for the first 60 guests on a first come, first served basis; otherwise it’s standing room only. Attendees must be 21 or over.

See Carpenter Brut at Brooklyn Steel
9 p.m.
Calling all darksynth fans: Carpenter Brut is continuing his North American tour at Brooklyn Steel on Friday — the French musician’s penultimate show on the continent before returning home — and general admission tickets are still available online for $25 per person, or $30 each at the East Williamsburg venue day-of. Doors open at 8 p.m., an hour before showtime, with SIERRA serving as the opening act; guests must be at least 16 years old to attend.

Saturday, September 3

Take your kids to Junior Carnival 2022
9 a.m.
Ahead of the West Indian American Day Parade on Monday, the Brooklyn Museum is hosting Junior Carnival on Saturday with live music performances, a junior parade king and queen, and a procession that will run parallel to the full-scale parade route along Eastern Parkway. The event is slated to run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will conclude at the museum, with general admission tickets for the all-ages festival priced at $10 each.

Chow down on a Brooklyn Heights food tour
11 a.m.
Sometimes it’s fun to feel like a tourist in your own city, and this Saturday you have the chance to do just that in one of the borough’s most touristy areas — Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights — while discovering some hidden gems, with attendees dining at establishments like Juliana’s Pizza, One Girl Cookie and Jacques Torres Chocolate as they make their way through the neighborhoods. The three-hour tour costs $68 each for adults, or $58 per child between the ages of 4 and 10.

Use your ping pong skills to win a year’s worth of eggs
2 p.m.
Farm to People Kitchen & Bar in Bushwick is hosting “the fiercest competition of the century” on Saturday: a ping pong tournament from 2 to 9 p.m., with the winner taking home a grand prize of a year’s worth of pasture-raised eggs. If you think you’ve got what it takes, entry to the competition is $5 each, with a limited number of slots also available for sign-up at the door. Or, if you’re not a table tennis master, it’s free to spectate, with the restaurant serving its full menu throughout the tourney.

Hear Adam ruin everything live
7:30 p.m.
Comedian Adam Conover of “Adam Ruins Everything” and, more recently, “The G Word” fame is coming to town for a stand-up show at the Bell House in Gowanus this weekend. Part of his Summer Stand-Up Tour, Conover has said on Twitter that he’s got an hour of new material and that “some more great comics” will be joining him on stage, too. General admission tickets for this Saturday’s show are $37.50 each and it’s strictly 21-and-over; guests are advised to arrive early, as seating is limited. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the 7:30 performance, though the venue’s bar opens at 5 o’clock.

Sunday, September 4

Get wild at Paintopia j’Ouvert
7 a.m.
Operating with the tagline “PAINT. WATER. FOAM.” and not much else, attendees at Paintopia j’Ouvert are all but guaranteed a wet and wild experience this Sunday, when the bright and early party takes over the grounds of the Brooklyn Museum from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hard details about the event are scarce, but with an “all star mega monster DJ cast” that includes Tony X, Kevin Crown and Miami Dream Team, there’s also sure to be live music involved. The first two tiers of tickets have already sold out, though there are a limited number of final call tickets available for $60 each, so act fast if you’re interested.

Walk across two of the borough’s most famous bridges
4:30 p.m.
If you’re spending your three-day weekend alone, or if you just love gettin’ your steps in, there is a guided walk on Sunday afternoon that’s free to attend, taking participants from Cadman Plaza Park, over the Brooklyn Bridge, through Lower Manhattan, and back over the Manhattan Bridge to downtown. Running for roughly four miles over the course of 90 minutes, this “walk & talk” party starts promptly at 4:30; it’ll be postponed in the event of rain, though at the time of writing, there’s only a 40 percent chance of storms on Sunday.

Head to a Labor Day party
All night long
The combination of a long weekend and its ongoing Caribbean celebrations have ensured that there will be no shortage of parties to attend this weekend, including on Sunday night, when a number of events will pop up across Brooklyn to take advantage of the holiday Monday. There’s a boat party departing the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal at 7 p.m., priced at $100 per person; and an indoor-outdoor “Caribbean Link Up” running from 8 p.m. until the wee hours of Monday morning at Now and Then NYC; a rooftop party at Polygon BK in Williamsburg that’s also Caribbean-themed; a full slate of weekend parties at Lot45 in Bushwick; among many others.

Monday, September 5

Check out the West Indian American Day Parade
11 a.m.
The annual West Indian American Day Parade is returning to Crown Heights on Monday, capping off a weekend of Caribbean-themed carnivals and parties across Brooklyn. The procession of music and dance begins promptly at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Schenectady Avenue, one block from the Utica Avenue 2/3/4 subway stop, and will travel west along Eastern Parkway for roughly two miles to the borough’s Grand Army Plaza. All told, the Labor Day weekend celebrations can attract upwards of 3 million people, CUNY reckons, so arrive early if you want a prime viewing spot on the parade route. Grab your bike and keep an eye out for Good Co. Bike Club’s “Bike Fête: Reloaded” party and float (Brooklyn Magazine is a media partner).

Learn why your houseplants keep dying
6:30 p.m.
Is your green thumb more of an iron fist? If so, whether you’re a rookie who’s interested in getting into houseplants or don’t know why your existing plants keep dying, check out Greenthumb 101, an interactive workshop hosted at the Concrete Jungle coffee shop in Bushwick. Costing $50 per person, this one-hour class will cover everything from sunlight needs and watering frequency to repotting techniques and pest control, with each person’s ticket also including a 4-inch houseplant of their choosing and all necessary planting materials.

Test your knowledge at trivia night
7:30 p.m.
Trivia Mondays are a regular occurrence at Secret Pour, a bar on the border of Bushwick and Bed-Stuy, though this being a weekend to-do list (keyword: weekend), it and other Monday events are seldom featured — until a long weekend rolls around. So whether or not you have to work this Monday, put on your thinking cap and head to this watering hole at 1114 DeKalb Avenue; grand prize is $50 off your bar tab, with the winners of each individual round also scoring a free shot.