August in New York City is a little quieter as New Yorkers vacation and tourists visit. The last two weeks are especially quiet. In a normal summer, many New Yorkers head out to Queens to celebrate the end of summer at the US Open tennis championship.
New York on PAUSE for COVID-19
This is not a normal August. New York City remains on PAUSE for the COVID-19 pandemic. Please wear a mask, stay 6 feet apart, avoid crowds, and wash your hands.
Things to do in NYC in August
These are the big Latin culture events in New York City in August.
HOLIDAYS
- The last two weeks of August are usually family holiday time. In Catholic countries, holidays begin after the Assumption of Mary on August 15.
PARADES
- Ecuadorian Parade (Cancelled)
- National Dominican Day Parade (Virtual)
STREET FAIRS
- Open Streets, Open Streets : Open Restaurants
- Ecuadorian Festival (Cancelled)
- Harlem Week (Virtual, August 16-23)
INDEPENDENCE DAYS & NATIONAL CELEBRATIONS
- Bolivian Independence Day (August 6)
- Battle of Boyacá (Colombia) (August 7)
- Ecuadorian Independence Day (August 10)
- India Independence Day (August 15, 1947)
- Dominican Restoration Day (August 16)
- Uruguayan Independence Day (August 25)
THEATRE
- Puppet Fringe (Cancelled)
- NYC Broadway Week (Cancelled)
- Shakespeare in the Park: Much Ado About Nothing on PBS television, Friday, August 14 at 9pm.
MUSIC FESTIVALS
- SummerStage Anywhere
- Global Music Month (Virtual, August 29 – October 1)
- Brazil SummerFest (Cancelled)
- Afropunk (Cancelled)
- Lincoln Center Out of Doors (Cancelled)
- Charlie Parker Jazz Festival (Cancelled)
DANCE FESTIVALS
- 39th Battery Dance Festival (Online at batterydance.org)
DANCING
- Orchard Beach Salsa (Cancelled)
- Central Park Tango (Cancelled)
- VolvoTango (Cancelled)
- New York International Salsa Congress (Cancelled)
FILM FESTIVALS
- New York Latino Film Festival (Cancelled)
- MTV Video Music Awards (August 30)
FOOD FESTIVALS
- Open Streets : Open Restaurants
- NYC Restaurant Week (Cancelled)
SPORTS
- NYC Supporters Clubs watch the start of the European soccer season
- US Open Grand Slam (August 31-September 13, ESPN, no fans)
- Yankees (shortened season)
- Mets (shortened season)
- Sky Blue FC (NWSL Challenge Cup on CBS from Utah June 27-July 26)
- NYCFC (out of competition)
- New York Red Bulls (out of competition)
FAITH DAYS
- Pachamama (August 1)
- Assumption of Mary (August 15)
- Queenship of Mary (August 22)
NATIONAL DAYS
- International Beer Day, First Friday in August (August 7)
- NPD National Night Out (Cancelled)
- National Rum Day (August 16)
- International Day for Remembrance of Slave Trade and its Abolition (August 23)
BIRTHDAYS
- Dolores del Río (August 3, 1905)
- Louis Armstrong (New Orleans, Louisiana, August 4, 1901)
- Caetano Veloso (August, 7, 1942)
- Carlos Vives (August, 7, 1961)
- Emiliano Zapata (August 8)
- Juanes (August 9, 1972)
- Cantinflas (August 12, 1911)
- Roberto Clemente (August 18)
- Gilberto Santa Rosa (August 21, 1962)
- Graciela Grillo (August 23)
- Leonard Bernstein (August 25)
- Thalia (August 26, 1971)
- Rufino Tamayo, surrealist painter (Oaxaca, Mexico, August 26, 1899)
- Arsenio Rodríguez, son montuno (Güira de Macurijes, Matanzas, Cuba, August 31, 1911)
August in the Latin World
SWITZERLAND [VIRTUAL for COVID-19]
The Locarno Film Festival is in Locarno, Switzerland from August 5-15, 2020.
ARGENTINA [CANCELLED for COVID-19]
The International Tango Festival and World Cup is in Buenos Aires August 15-27, 2020.
Things to do in NYC in August 2020 Week 31
July 27 – August 2, 2020
Saturday, August 1
The month of August was named after Augustus Caesar who defeated the forces of Antony and Cleopatra in Alexandria, Egypt on August 1, 30 BC.
Celebrate Pachamama Day in honor of the Andean Earth Mother.
“Liquidus,” Tabula Rasa Dance Theater’s Mexican, Argentine, Thai, Japanese COVID-19 dance live from home, continues on YouTube Live at 7pm. FREE, but $3.63 donation requested
[Replaced by Open Streets, Open Restaurants and Open Streets:Restaurants]
The Summer Streets street fair runs from the Brooklyn Bridge up Centre St, Lafayette St, Fourth Ave and Park Avenue to 72nd St to Central Park from 7am to 1pm. FREE
Sunday, August 2
Things to do in NYC in August 2020 Week 32
August 3-9, 2020
Monday, August 3
The Sturgeon Moon full moon rises over New York City at 11:59am.
Remember Dolores del Río, the first Latin American Hollywood star who was born in Durango, Mexico on August 3, 1904.
Happy Birthday Tony Bennett. The Italian-American pop and jazz legend was born in Astoria, Queens on August 3, 1926.
Tuesday, August 4
Wednesday, August 5
SWITZERLAND [VIRTUAL]
The Locarno Film Festival, Europe’s big arthouse film festival, opens online from Locarno, Switzerland and runs through August 15, 2020.
Thursday, August 6
Celebrate Bolivian Independence Day from Spain on August 6, 1825.
READING LIST
“The Real Reason the American Economy Boomed After World War II,” Opinion by Jim Tankersley, New York Times.
Friday, August 7
This is a great story about what we’ve been through. “A Season of Grief and Release: 5 Months of the Virus in New York City.” Photos by Daniel Arnold. Text by Dodai Stewart. New York Times.
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden in Prospect Park reopens today.
Dine outdoors in New York City Open Streets : Open Restaurants
Celebrate International Beer Day.
Tropicália legend and rock star Caetano Veloso was born in Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil on August 7, 1942.
Vallenato star Carlos Vives was born in Santa Marta, Colombia on August 7, 1961.
Remember the Battle of Boyacá, the decisive defeat of Royalist forces in Colombia in 1819 that eventually led to the independence of the northern part of South America.
Saturday, August 8
Dine outdoors in New York City Open Streets : Open Restaurants
“Liquidus,” Tabula Rasa Dance Theater’s Mexican, Argentine, Thai, Japanese COVID-19 dance live from home, continues on YouTube Live at 7pm. FREE, but $3.63 donation requested
Emiliano Zapata, a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution who believed that land should belong to those who work it, was born in Anenecuilco, Morelos, Mexico on August 8, 1879.
Sunday, August 9
The National Dominican Day Parade goes virtual on abc7ny.com at 1pm. Free
Dine outdoors in New York City Open Streets : Open Restaurants
Pop singer Juanes was born in Carolina del Príncipe, Antioquia, Colombia on August 9, 1972.
READING LIST: #IWanttoseeNyome, “Instagram ‘censorship’ of black model’s photo reignites claims of race bias,” Nosheen Iqbal, The Guardian
Things to do in NYC in August 2020 Week 33
August 10-16, 2020
Monday, August 10
Celebrate Ecuadorian Independence Day, August 10, 1809.
Argentine concert pianist Rosa Antonelli and the Argentine Consulate New York, host a watch party of Antonelli’s 2011 performance in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium on Antonelli’s YouTube channel at 7:30pm. FREE
Tuesday, August 11
Wednesday, August 12
[CANCELLED for COVID-19]
The International Puppet Fringe Festival is at Teatro SEA in NYC’s Lower East Side through Sunday.
Thursday, August 13
Friday, August 14
Dine outdoors in New York City Open Streets : Open Restaurants
OPENING NIGHT
The 39th Battery Dance Festival opens online with a Black Voices in Dance program at batterydance.org at 7pm. FREE
Saturday, August 15
Celebrate India Independence Day, August 15, 1947! Some Indian Americans are Latin through the Caribbean, especially Trinidad & Tobago.
Dine outdoors in New York City Open Streets : Open Restaurants
CLOSING NIGHT
“Liquidus,” Tabula Rasa Dance Theater’s Mexican, Argentine, Thai, Japanese COVID-19 dance live from home, closes on YouTube Live at 7pm. FREE, but $3.63 donation requested
The 39th Battery Dance Festival continues with an Indian Independence Day program at batterydance.org at 7pm. FREE
Celebrate the Assumption of Mary.
ARGENTINA (CANCELLED for COVID-19)
The International Tango Festival and World Cup is in Buenos Aires August 15-27, 2020.
Sunday, August 16
Enjoy the 46th Harlem Week festival virtually through August 23.
The 39th Battery Dance Festival continues with a Middle East program at batterydance.org at 7pm. FREE
Dine outdoors in New York City Open Streets : Open Restaurants
Celebrate Dominican Restoration Day when El Grito de Capotillo (The Cry of Capotillo) launched the Dominican War of Restoration in 1863.
Celebrate National Rum Day!
Things to do in NYC in August 2020 Week 34
August 17-23, 2020
Monday, August 17
The 39th Battery Dance Festival continues with a Europe & Japan program at batterydance.org at 7pm. FREE
Tuesday, August 18
Celebrate the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.
The 39th Battery Dance Festival continues with a Women’s Right to Vote Centennial program at batterydance.org at 7pm. FREE
Roberto Clemente, the first great Latin Major League Baseball player, was born in Barrio San Antón of Carolina, Puerto Rico on August 18, 1934.
The new moon is at 10:41pm tonight.
Wednesday, August 19
New York’s leading Colombian musicians, including Grupo Rebolú, live stream a benefit concert of Atlantic and Pacific Coast music for marimba master Diego Obregon, who passed away unexpectedly last month, on Flushing Town Hall’s Facebook channel at 7pm. FREE
Listening to Obregon play the marimba always stirred the African inside me. No other artist did that for me, but Diego’s voice was that strong. Keith Widyolar
Argentine, Brazilian, Japanese and Salvadoran Latin art blooms in the Queens Botanical Garden through September 8. $6
The 39th Battery Dance Festival continues with an Africa program at batterydance.org at 7pm. FREE
Celebrate Al-Hijra, Muslim New Year’s Eve, at sunset.
Thursday, August 20
The 39th Battery Dance Festival continues with a North America program that includes Indigenous, Disability and Mexican dance companies at batterydance.org at 7pm. FREE
Friday, August 21
The 39th Battery Dance Festival continues with a performance by Battery Dance Company at batterydance.org at 7pm. FREE
Dine outdoors in New York City Open Streets : Open Restaurants
Remember the Haitian Revolution which began on August 21, 1791.
Saturday, August 22
CLOSING NIGHT
The 39th Battery Dance Festival ends with a Tribute to NYC program at batterydance.org at 7pm. FREE
Dine outdoors in New York City Open Streets : Open Restaurants
Celebrate the Queenship of Mary, and the presence of the divine mother in the afterlife.
Sunday, August 23
Dine outdoors in New York City Open Streets : Open Restaurants
The New York Mets play the Subway Series with the Yankees on TBS at 1:10pm.
Today is the UN International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.
Remember Graciela Grillo, the legendary singer of Machito and his Afro-Cubans, who was born in Havana, Cuba on August 23, 1915. “Ay José…” 😂
Celebrate the Feast of Saint Rose of Lima, patron saint of Peru (Peru celebrates with a national holiday on her original feast day on August 30). There is a Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown East, Manhattan.
Things to do in NYC in August 2020 Week 35
August 24-30, 2020
We noticed last year that there are many celebrations and commemorations related to African Diaspora culture around this time of year. The Haitian Revolution began around this time of year in 1791. 14-year old Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi in 1955. Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream Speech” in Washington D.C. in 1963. The Afropunk music festival is normally held in Brooklyn around this time of year.
Now we have the recent shooting of Jacob Blake seven times in the back for leaning forward into his car by Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer Rusten Sheskey.
We all need to do something to make this stop. Unjustified violence against Black men and people of color is killing us all.
Monday, August 24
On August 14, Governor Cuomo gave permission for New York City museums and cultural institutions to reopen today at one quarter capacity with timed ticketing, visitor flow control, and face coverings.
Tuesday, August 25
Flushing Town Hall brings together Latin Boogaloo (Latin R&B) by Spanglish Fly and Afrobeat by Chop and Quench cast members of “Fela! The Musical” on Flushing Town Hall’s YouTube channel at 7pm. FREE
Celebrate Uruguayan Independence Day from Spain on August 25, 1825.
Remember Rufino Tamayo, the surrealist painter who painted abstract watermelons that look good enough to eat, who was born in Oaxaca, Mexico on August 26, 1899
Remember Leonard Bernstein, the Jewish-American pianist, conductor, and composer of West Side Story, who was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts on August 25, 1918.
Wednesday, August 26
On August 26, 1971, the FANIA All-Stars played a legendary concert at Cheetah at 310 West 52nd St, which was filmed as “Our Latin Thing.”
Thursday, August 27
MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art reopens today.
Friday, August 28
This is a sacred day in Black History. It’s the day of the infamous Emmett Till lynching, Rev. Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and the death of “Black Panther” and “42” star Chadwick Boseman on the day when Major League Baseball celebrated Jackie Robinson Day in 2020.
Dine outdoors in New York City Open Streets : Open Restaurants
Remember Emmett Till, a teenager who was senselessly and brutally murdered in Money, Mississippi on August 28, 1955.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963.
Major League Baseball celebrates #42 Jackie Robinson Day, the man who broke baseball’s color barrier, today during the shortened 2020 baseball season.
Remember Chadwick Boseman, star of “Black Panther,” “Get On Up,” “Marshall” and “42” the Jackie Robinson story, who died on this day in 2020.
Cecilia Aldarondo’s “Landfall” about life in Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 after Hurricane María is screening at the Queens Drive-In at the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows Corona-Park, Queens at 7:30pm. $35 per car (up to 4 passengers)
Saturday, August 29
The Metropolitan Museum of Art reopens.
World Music Institute, Flushing Town Hall and Drom join the Global Music Month virtual music festival of fifteen world music presenters which runs through October 1.
Dine outdoors in New York City Open Streets : Open Restaurants
Sunday, August 30
The 36th MTV VMA Video Music Awards honor the spirit and resilience of New York at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and iconic locations in all five boroughs (counties).
Dine outdoors in New York City Open Streets : Open Restaurants
Things to do in NYC in August 2020 week 36
August 31 – September 6, 2020
Monday, August 31
Watch the US Open Grand Slam Round 1 without fans on ESPN at 11am & 7pm. The tournament runs through September 13.
Remember Arsenio Rodríguez who modernized son montuno and created the form that became Latin jazz and salsa. He was born in Güira de Macurijes, Matanzas, Cuba on August 31, 1911.
