September is one of the months in which the New York calendar becomes particularly dense. The summer heat tends to stay at least for the first few weeks, but the big city events come back, Broadway enters the new season, the fashion shows start again and the neighborhoods organize some of their most popular holidays. In 2026, moreover, September includes two particularly important occasions for the city: the centenary of the Feast of San Gennaro and the twenty-five years from the attacks of September 11.
The month will begin with one of the biggest events in Brooklyn. Monday, September 7, Labor Day day, will hold the West Indian American Day Parade, which concludes the Caribbean Carnival organized every year from the West Indian American Day Carnival Association. The date of September 27 indicated in some online guides is wrong: the main parade is scheduled for September 7 along Eastern Parkway. In previous days, from 3 September, the program includes concerts, parties and the Junior Carnival, with many of the events concentrated around the Brooklyn Museum.
It is a manifestation that tells a good part of Brooklyn that normally finds less space in tourist guides. The New York carnival was born in Harlem from the Caribbean community and later moved to Brooklyn, where today it mainly involves Crown Heights. During the parade there are wagons, sound system, steel pans and costume groups related to different communities from Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, Grenada, Haiti and other Caribbean countries.
The same weekend, from 5 to 7 September, in Staten Island will be held the 46th Richmond County Fair. The fair occupies the 25 acres of Historic Richmond Town, the large complex of historic buildings that reconstructs different periods of the island’s history. There will be rides, music, competitions, food and more than one hundred sellers; every year over 15 thousand people participate. There is also a less obvious reason why the event is important: it is the main annual fundraiser of the organization that keeps the 38 historical buildings distributed on its sites. The Richmond County Fair Program
The first thirteen days of September will continue the US Open, which began on August 30 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows. The tournament will take place practically all the first half of the month: the quarterfinals are scheduled on 8 and 9 September, the female semifinals on 10, the male ones on 11. The female final will be Saturday 12 September, that male Sunday 13 September. During the final weekend the Finals Fan Fest will be organized, with a $30 pass to access the grounds and follow the finals from the areas prepared for the watch party. The complete calendar of the US Open 2026
Almost at the same time the New York Fashion Week will begin, officially scheduled from 10 to 15 September. The calendar spread by the Council of Fashion Designers of America includes about 70 shows and presentations. On September 10, Diane von Furstenberg will open the program with the first collection designed by the new artistic director Henry Zankov; in the following days, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Tommy Hilfiger, Proenza Schouler and Carolina Herrera are planned. Thom Browne will close the week on September 15. Many events remain reserved for workmen, while some parallel organizations sell tickets to the public. NYFW Preliminary Calendar
From September 8th to 20th the NYC Broadway Week returns, which does not really last a week: for thirteen days you can buy tickets with formula two at the price of one for 25 productions. The Lion King, Wicked, Chicago, Hadestown, The Book of Mormon, The Great Gatsby, MJ, Stranger Things: The First Shadow and Buena Vista Social Club. The initiative has existed since 2011 and is organized by the official agency of city tourism; the places available with promotion change depending on the show and date. The list of Broadway Week shows
In the midst of this calendar will fall this year a different day from the others. On 11 September 2026, twenty-five years have passed since the 2001 attacks. On 9/11 Memorial the morning ceremony will be reserved for the family of the victims and will include the reading of the names and seven moments of silence: the six traditional ones have been added a dedicated to the dead people in the following years for diseases related to the exposure to the toxic substances of Ground Zero. The Memorial will reopen to the public in the afternoon.
After sunset will return the Tribute in Light, the installation consisting of two large beams that reproduce in the sky the position of the Twin Towers. It is mounted on the roof of the Battery Parking Garage and consists of 88 xenon lamps: under favourable conditions it can be seen up to 60 miles away from Lower Manhattan. For the twenty-fifth anniversary, several New York buildings and monuments will be lit in blue, including the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, the David Geffen Hall and various city airports facilities. The initiatives for the 25th anniversary
A week later, a much more festive event will begin. From 17 to 27 September Little Italy will host the 100th edition of the Feast of San Gennaro. The first was organized in 1926 by the Neapolitan immigrants who lived around Mulberry Street: initially it was a religious festival of only one day dedicated to the patron of Naples, then it was flooded until it occupied eleven days and several blocks between Mulberry, Hester and Grand Street.
The centenary program includes the traditional Grand Procession of September 26, concerts and daily shows, including an evening with artists from Naples. As always, however, most of the Festival is simply to go along Mulberry Street between stalls, restaurants that widen on the sidewalks, haps, sausages, cannoli and gastronomic competitions. Entrance is free of charge. The programme of the centenary Feast of San Gennaro
On September 19 at the Brooklyn Bridge Park there will be one of the smallest and very New York events of the month: the Bus Festival of the New York Transit Museum. From 10 to 15:30 a part of the museum’s historical bus collection will be parked at Emily Warren Roebling Plaza, under the Brooklyn Bridge, and you can board. Among the means preserved by the museum are two-storey buses from the 1930s and models that tell the evolution of public transport. Entrance is free and registration is recommended but not mandatory. Information about the Bus Festival 2026
The last week of the month will be especially that of the Brooklyn Book Festival, which in 2026 will take place from 20 to 28 September. The program lasts nine days and includes free meetings in all five boroughs. The main moment will be Sunday, September 27, when Borough Hall and the surrounding streets will host the Festival Day and the Literary Marketplace from 10 to 18. Among the announced authors are Joyce Carol Oates, Marlon James, Douglas Stuart, Colson Whitehead, Quiara AlegrÃa Hudes and Namwali Serpell. The previous day will be dedicated especially to children’s books and meetings. The Brooklyn Book Festival program
Finally, there is Dopamine Land, which often appears in the guides to things to do in New York but technically is located outside the city, in Paramus, New Jersey. It is housed in the Westfield Garden State Plaza and will remain open throughout September. The route takes about 45 minutes and includes a dozen interactive environments built around lights, sounds, aromas, games and photo installations. It is therefore closer to the category of commercial immersive experiences than to that of citizens festivals, and also requires a move in New Jersey: it is worth keeping it present before considering it an alternative to things to do in the five boroughs.
L’articolo Things to do in New York in September proviene da IlNewyorkese.
