Buy Tickets Now: Midtown International Theater Festival

July is coming up. Thinking air conditioning might be nice, but can't find anything worth watching at the movies?  Check out the schedule for the Midtown International Theater Festival, now in its 10th year, starting July 12 and running through August 10, at venues throughout Midtown Manhattan.

Want to take a budding Cate Blanchett? Be sure to use the site's guide to determine if the play you're thinking of is age appropriate.As you might imagine, the plays performed at the festival have limited capacity, so don't wait, make your reservations now by heading to the festival's web site:  http://www.midtownfestival.org/.

Brooklyn Music Festival: July 4

Musicians Fabolous and Shabba headline the 3rd annual Brooklyn Music Festival, going off July 4 at Aviator Sports Arena in South Brooklyn. Numerous acts are slated to perform, from the national to the locally-based. We've passed the deadline for early purchase tickets - they are now $59 with kids 12 and under free. Vendors will also be present.

When: July 4 1PM
Where: Aviator Arena at Floyd Bennett Field
Website: http://www.brooklynmusicfestival.com

Lincoln Center American Crafts Festival

Get inspired by the ingenuity of over 400 craft vendors at this annual outdoor craft fair, one of the largest in the city. The show is juried, meaning that vendors had to apply and have their wares judged high quality to be able to display. The festival actually stretches over 2 weekends, with different artists displaying each weekend. FB missed out on the first weekend of this show (sorry), but you'll be able to lose yourself for hours on this last weekend, and possibly find that perfect lamp for that one corner in your favorite room.

Music and food are promised, though no information on who exactly will be playing is given on the website.

When: June 26 12-9PM, 27 10AM-9PM
Where: Lincoln Center Plaza
Website: http://www.craftsatlincoln.org

PrideFest: Where We're All Fabulous

The annual Gay Pride week kicked off with a rally on June 19 at SummerStage in Central Park and continues with a host of events throughout the week, but the best is definitely saved for last with the annual Pride march and PrideFest, this year with extra oomph due to 2010 being the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots - the event that brought the gay community together and started the gay rights movement.

Both PrideFest and the March are completely open to the public. Come see an amazing pageant of people displaying their true and varied colors, with music.

Also, check out the Pride website at http://www.nycpride.org for a list of Pride events - dances, performances, and a couple festivals within this giant festival.


When: June 27, 2010 11AM-7PM
Where: Hudson Street between 10th and 14th Streets in the West Village (March goes down Fifth from 36th Street to Greenwich and Hudson Street, turning on 9th Street)
Website: http://www.nycpride.org

Edible Garden Festival at New York Botanic Garden

The edible garden celebration is a series of festival weekends dedicated to growing and cooking of fresh local produce. Each weekend is dedicated to a theme, with the first weekend - June 26-27 - dedicated to asparagus. Cooking demonstration, book talks and signings by authors. FB is particularly interested in the rhubarb weekend (July 10-11) and the berries weekend (July 4 weekend).

When: Weekends from June 26-October 17
Where: New York Botanical Gardens, Bronx
Website: http://www.nybg.org/eg/#visit/garden_table

GET TICKETS NOW! Meatopia on Governor's Island

Sometimes you want to hang back to see how a new festival works out, but with Edible Brooklyn and the Slow Food Movement behind this, you don't want to wait. Meatopia is, well, all about meat, particularly barbeque. And where the Big Apple BBQ Block Party was about bringing out pitmasters from around the country, Meatopia features local pitmasters and barbeque teams.

Meatopia is particularly dedicated to local food. Meat is provided by local tri-state producers. Moreover, the beer and bourbon available for tasting will also be locally produced. (Apparently July is "Good Beer Month" according to Mayor Bloomberg.)

This event hasn't sold out yet, but that's probably just because it's the very first one. Tasting tickets are available to purchase through the website. Don't wait.

When: July 11, 2010
Where: Governor's Island
Website: http://www.meatopia.org

Not Your Typical Dinner and a Movie

The NYC Food Film Festival tries to take the idea of food and movies to a higher level, and it's succeeding. The movies are all food-themed but manage to include both documentaries and narratives (and why not? FB thinks fondly of food movies like Chocolat, Eat Drink Man Woman, No Reservations and Loose Cannons). The two coolest-sounding evenings are already sold out but tickets are available for the Great NYC Shuck & Suck (yes, they mean oysters) as well as the Sunday "It's Grits" brunch selection, a bargain at $35 a head.

When: June 23-27
Where: Locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn
Website: http://www.nycfoodfilmfestival.com