X

The 20 best cheap things to do this weekend, cherry blossom edition

Tumble around with the Golden Dragon Acrobats (#18). Photo by Drew Pion

[Ed note: Reminder, we now have a separate roundup for activism-focused events, which we encourage you to check out here.]

1. Start your weekend off artfully at Greenpoint Gallery Night, with 11 art spaces across the neighborhood open late, from Jave Project to The Yard. (Friday, Greenpoint, FREE)

2. Eat some eats and tell some tales at the Beyond Bubbe Backyard Potluck, a dinner and storytelling event where everyone brings a food that evokes a memory. (Friday, City Reliquary, $2 with food / $9 without)

3. Get your twang on at the 9th annual Brooklyn Folk Festival, with 30+ acts, from Feral Foster to Tennessee Stiff Legs to Locust Honey String Band. Brokester exclusive: use code BFFBRK17 for 15% off tickets. (Friday through Sunday, St. Ann’s Church, $20–$35)

4. Have a couple of laughs at Pairs n Pears, featuring duos of artists, each creating in different genres, including comedy by Sam Corbin and Eudora Peterson, poetry by Windy and Mel Hacken, and more. (Friday, Tarot Society, $5)

5. Dance your face off at Space Funk Odyssey, by female art and techno collective Neon Tribe, with music from Skyboxx, J. Easy, Mnnich, Madkat, and more. (Friday, Brooklyn Colony, $5)

________

Burst into bloom at Sakura Matsuri (#6). Photo by Alain Mikli

6. Bask in Brooklyn’s blossoms at Sakura Matsuri 2017, with 60+ events and performances that celebrate traditional and contemporary Japanese culture. (Saturday & Sunday, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, $30)

7. Go dutch to the New Amsterdam Festival, a cultural celebration with food, drinks, lawn games, and plenty of tulips. (Saturday & Sunday, Onderdonk House, FREE)

8. Get your game on at International Tabletop Day, with demos and contests from war games to board games to RPGs to Magic. (Saturday, Brooklyn Strategist, FREE)

9. Bury your secrets — literally — at Here Lie the Secrets of Green-Wood Cemetery, an interactive public artwork presented by Creative Time. (Saturday & Sunday, Green-Wood Cemetery, FREE)

10. Take a turn for the dramatic at the 7th annual Big Green Theater Festival, an eco-playwriting program celebrating environmental education and sustainability. (Saturday & Sunday, Bushwick Starr, FREE)

11. Listen to the youths at The Truth About Our World, a show written and performed by the ladies of viBeSolos that explores life for black girls in New York City. (Saturday, Irondale Center, $10)

12. Feel no pain at This Won’t Hurt, a star-studded comedy benefit for the Brooklyn Free Clinic starring Jo Firestone, Aparna Nancherla, Julio Torres, and many more. (Saturday, Bell House, $15)

13. Have a bacchanal at Thunder Gumbo: Apocalypse Carnival, an East Coast Burning Man bonanza with DJs, music, live performances, weird art, and plenty of surprises. (Saturday, Rubulad, $20)

14. Play around at Human’s Playground, an immersive, multidisciplinary party with interactive performances occurring spontaneously throughout the night. (Saturday, Kymberle Project, $20)

15. Rave into the wee hours at Technofeminism, featuring softcoresoft, Beta Libre, Kaz Kandy, Umfang, Freddie Teardrop, and Stefan Jós. (Saturday, OMG Pizza, FREE)

________

Strum away the weekend with Locust Honey String Band (#3). Photo via Facebook

16. Have a transcendent listen at Red Bull Music Academy’s Beyond the Clouds, 10 straight hours of ambient music played on a custom sound system to produce “total immersion.” (Sunday, Bogart House, $10)

17. Dance the day away at Party Noire’s Black Joy in Bk, with DJs Twelve45, Rubadub, and Rae Chardonnay keeping you moving. (Sunday, Friends & Lovers, $10)

18. Catch some crazy contortions by The Golden Dragon Acrobats, a troupe hailing from Cangzhou, Hebei province, in the People’s Republic of China. (Sunday, Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, $12.50–$25)

19. Day-drink at The Spirited Pen: Writers Talk About Whiskey, with guest speaker William Hogeland, author of The Whiskey Rebellion, followed by a distillery tour. (Sunday, Kings County Distillery, $14)

20. Cringe through alternative facts at Ocean of Lies, a screening and discussion to “unpack contemporary manifestations of fake news, online propaganda, and media deception.” (Sunday, UnionDocs, $10)

Want more? Check out our full events calendar and add your own event today!

Wouldn’t you love to have all these events in your inbox? Subscribe!

Oriana Leckert :Oriana is a writer, editor, and cultural hipstorian [sic] who is kind of obsessed with Brooklyn. She is the author of "Brooklyn Spaces: 50 Hubs of Culture & Creativity" (Monacelli, 2015) and creatrix of the website of the same name. She is the events editor for both Brokelyn and Greenpointers, and her writing has appeared on Slate, Atlas Obscura, New York Post, Matador, Hyperallergic, Gothamist, Curbed, Brooklyn Magazine, Brooklyn Based, and more. Follow her at @orianabklyn.