This weekend, Super Bowl Sunday falls on Groundhog Day, so you can place a bet on both the game and the upcoming weather. While winter technically ends on March 19, Staten Island Chuck (New York City’s very own groundhog!) will poke his furry nose out of his burrow to let us know if we’ve got six more weeks of winter. While New Yorkers, like the groundhog, might be tempted to stay in bed until spring, the city’s got plenty of reasons to drag ourselves out of our burrows.
Dance the night away in Brooklyn as a pair of DJs spin tunes from the Arab and African diasporas, slurp hand-pulled noodles and watch lion dancing at the Met’s celebration of the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Rat, or find a Super Bowl viewing party that speaks to your level of enthusiasm for the sport -- we’ve rounded up everything to eat, drink, see, and do in NYC this weekend.
Dance your way into February
Friday, January 31
Crown Heights
Shake off January at the Haza Party, where DJs Sweaty by Nature and Carmen Sandiego are bringing music from the Arab and African diasporas to one of the best dance floors in Brooklyn. The night is hosted by Ana Masreya, the Egyptian drag queen behind cult-hit cabaret Nefertitties, who brings her inclusive, effusive energy to the party.
Cost: $5; drinks available for purchase
Save on a night at the theater
Weekend-long
Midtown
During Broadway Week, you can get 2-for-1 tickets for musicals like Frozen, Wicked, Mean Girls, and the recently-revived-by-teens-on-TikTok Beetlejuice. If you’re not a big fan of the old razzle dazzle, you can score seats to dramas My Name is Lucy Barton, To Kill a Mockingbird, and the Pulitzer prize-winning A Soldier’s Play. With all the money you save on tickets, you can make a reservation to eat by the theater and make a Midtown night of it.
Cost: 2-for-1 ticket prices vary
Catch a live, local late-night show
Friday, January 31
Hell’s Kitchen
Comedian Mike Poole hosts “Pool Party,” his take on the late-night comedy genre, at the UCB Theatre. With hilarious spins on the familiar monologue, special guest visits, recurring segments, and even a house band, he sends up the Jimmys and their ilk with a chaotic, up-for-anything energy. In a city where a stand-by ticket to see Fallon requires waiting for hours in two separate lines, it’s a blast to see a lo-fi version for under 10 bucks.
Cost: Tickets are $9
Embrace your frosty side
Weekend-long
Midtown West
There’s still a lot more winter left to get through, so we might as well embrace it! At Bryant Park’s FrostFest, you can bundle up and celebrate the cold with ice skating, live music, bumper cars on ice, and plenty of winter-themed photo opps to show off your ‘fit. Rinkside bar and food hall The Lodge will serve up aprés-skate drinks, so pop in to warm up with a frosty beer. Inside The Lodge, you’ll find winter-themed trivia, the all-request band Imperial Cities (brainstorm some cold-weather songs!), and food vendors serving up snacks and sweets.
Cost: Free to enter; food and drinks available for purchase
Drink the best of Brooklyn's beer scene
Saturday, February 1
Sunset Park
At the Best of Brooklyn Food and Beer Festival, you can eat and drink your way through the so-called Great Mistake of 1898. There’ll be unlimited craft brew tastings from breweries including Sixpoint, Five Boroughs, and the peak-Brooklyn Kombrewcha (they serve -- you guessed it! -- hard kombucha). Soak up all those beers with snacks from Empanada Papa, Chofi, CBao, and other local businesses as you wander through Industry City dancing to DJs and toasting to the borough.
Cost: Tickets start at $39
See the Year of the Rat take over the Met
Saturday, February 1
Upper East Side
The Met’s Lunar New Year Festival offers seven hours of celebration for the Year of the Rat. The Long Island Lion Troupe kicks off the festivities with a traditional lion dance for luck -- soon after, Sesame Street puppeteers hit the stage for a performance and photo opp. In the afternoon, artist Vincent Chong takes over the Chinese Courtyard for a performance that celebrates and interrogates identity, and throughout the day, you can attend hand-pulled noodle and calligraphy demos, sip bubble tea, and learn about your own Chinese zodiac sign.
Cost: Adult admission is $25
Experience a reality created by artists
Saturday, February 1 - Sunday, February 2
Lower East Side
NEW INC, the New Museum's incubator for artists working in the tech space, has teamed up with Ruinart Champagne to put on a "mixed reality" pop-up. In Milica Zec and Winslow Porter's Tree, an immersive VR experience, you'll feel (and smell, and hear!) what it feels like to be a rainforest tree; in Sarah Meyohas and Reese Donohue's Dawn Chorus, you'll experience patterns emerging in piano scales and flocks of birds. Space in the interactive exhibit is limited -- tickets are given out on a first-come, first-served basis, so make sure you’re in the museum to get them.
Cost: Adult museum admission is $18; in-person registration required
Never watch Paw Patrol again
Saturday, February 1 - Sunday, February 2
Fort Greene
With 87 films from 30 countries, the BAMKids Film Festival explores the world beyond Peppa Pig. A Dutch shorts program collects some of the best live and animated shots from the last 10 years in the Netherlands; Cat-tastic Tales features eight stories about felines; and Animal Songs might just push “Into the Unknown” out of your kid’s brain. Bring your baby, borrow a cousin, or eat a handful of CBD gummies and go all by yourself.
Cost: Tickets are $10 for kids and $15 for adults
Find out if we'll have six more weeks of winter
Sunday, February 2
West New Brighton
This Groundhog Day, forget Punxsatawny Phil -- New York’s got Staten Island Chuck. While Chuck’s short career has been filled with drama and intrigue -- after biting Mayor Bloomberg, he was secretly replaced by lookalike Charlotte, who was dropped by de Blasio and then, after a dastardly coverup, replaced by Chuck’s daughter, also named Charlotte -- Chuck hasn’t let the gossip affect the groundhog game. If you wake up early enough, head to the Staten Island Zoo at 7am to see Chuck make a prediction for 2020.
Cost: Free
Cheer for your team at a Super Bowl party
Sunday, February 2
Citywide
This year, Finnerty’s is the place to cheer for the 49ers, as it’ll be filled to bursting with San Francisco superfans. (If their party’s full up, head to Plug Uglies for the overfill crowd.) For Kansas City fans who aren’t John Brown’s regulars, good luck getting into see the game -- instead, try your luck at the Mothership Meat Company. If the only side you’re on is your office’s Super Bowl pool square, there are viewing parties all over the city: Brooklyn Cider House is offering $1 wings; Pretty Ricky’s is offering $5 beers from each team’s hometown; and the Arlo SoHo is hosting a full-blown tailgate party.
Cost: Ticket prices vary
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