
This week’s agenda includes a poet-led rock band, a 40-mile bike ride, indie-pop handclaps, and frothy pints of craft beer. If that’s not enough to keep you busy, you can always check Groupon for more great
things to do in New York City.

New York City Poetry Festival
Governors Island | Saturday, July 26, and Sunday, July 27, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
If you’ve ever dreamed of seeing a Pulitzer Prize–winning poet front a rock group, here’s your chance. The fourth annual NYC Poetry Festival brings Paul Muldoon’s folk-and-roots band
Wayside Shrines to Governors Island to headline a weekend that will include readings from more than 250 poets, including Mark Doty, Joyelle McSweeney, and Matthea Harvey. In-between sets, browse indie crafts and booksellers’ wares, fuel up with snacks from food vendors including
Morris Grilled Cheese and
Mud Coffee, or quaff pints in a beer garden sponsored by
Brooklyn Brewery. (
free; register here)
The Epic Ride
Greenpoint | Sunday, July 27, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cyclists zip along 40 miles of picturesque waterfront during this Brooklyn Greenway Initiative–sponsored ride, which loosely follows the path of the proposed Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. Starting in Greenpoint, riders pedal their way along the Queens shoreline to Rockaway Beach, where they can celebrate their feat with a dip in the ocean or a beachside after-party with food vendors. (
$30 BGI members, $40 general admission; register here)

Ingrid Michaelson
Central Park | Wednesday, July 30, at 6 p.m.
This spring, singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson’s “Girls Chase Boys” became her highest-charting single in eight years, buoyed in part by a Robert Palmer–esque
music video full of made-up male models. But Michaelson's back catalog is full of even more sweet, upbeat pop. This Wednesday at Central Park Summerstage, the concert crowd can look forward to clapping along with her 2006 hit “
The Way I Am” or whipping out their best air ukulele during the chilled-out ballad “
Be Ok.” (
at Central Park SummerStage; $30, $25 in advance; buy tickets here)
Good Beer
SoHo | Thursday, July 31
Sponsored by
Edible Manhattan, the sixth annual Good Beer festival lets suds aficionados celebrate the end of
July Good Beer Month in style. Guests match pints from craft brewers such as Brewery Ommegang, Oskar Blues Brewery, and KelSo Beer with bites from the likes of Luke’s Lobster, Brooklyn Cured, and Roni-Sue’s Chocolates. (
at 82Mercer, 82 Mercer St.; $65 general admission; buy tickets here)
Finding Fela
West Village | Friday, August 1
Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti may have a hit Broadway musical to his name, but there’s always more to his life story than can fit onstage. Academy Award–winner Alex Gibney’s documentary
Finding Fela, which opens at the
IFC Center this weekend, attempts to fill in the gaps left by
FELA! by delving deep into Kuti’s legacy as a performer and political activist. The result may feel a little like program notes for the musical (whose scenes feature prominently in the film), but for fans of Kuti, it’s still worth a look. (
323 Sixth Ave.; $14 adults, $10 children and seniors, $9 IFC members; tickets not yet available)
Photo of Ingrid Michaelson by Shervin Lainez.