Central Park, Aug 10–16: four empty days, then two race mornings, a car-free 110th and three nights of music

40 in Focus

        The calendar this week is nearly all weekend. Monday through Thursday there is essentially nothing scheduled and the heat peaks at 92°; then Friday cools off and Friday, Saturday and Sunday each carry a full day of programming — plus two consecutive mornings where the drives belong to somebody else.

Weather this week

Monday tops out at 92° with thunderstorms rolling through the evening, and it stays humid in the mid-to-upper 80s until a clean break arrives Friday at 83° and sunny, with nights finally dropping to the mid-60s. Train early or swim indoors Monday through Thursday, then plan on being outside for all three weekend days — Saturday and Sunday carry only a slight chance of showers.

Mon Aug 10 – Thu Aug 13 — empty, and hot

Monday and Wednesday have nothing one-off on them whatsoever. The rest is turf work:

  Tue Aug 11: Bowling Green closed all day; East Meadow and the Pond lawns closed until 2 PM
  Thu Aug 13: Billy Johnson lawn closed until 2 PM
  Mon–Thu: lawn maintenance at the East 106th Street lawn

Nothing touches the drives, so the loop is entirely yours for four days — the only obstacle is the weather. Monday is the one to work around. Lap swim at the Gottesman Pool runs 7–8:30 AM weekdays if you want out of the heat, the CP Sports summer program runs all week at South Dead Road, and 40 in Focus — Jack Vartoogian’s SummerStage photography — is up at the Arsenal 9–5.

Fri Aug 14 — the turn

The first good day in a stretch, 83° and sunny. Free Community Music Live takes Bandshell Plaza 3–7 PM, and Good Morning America has Rumsey tied up until noon. The Woodland Walk in the Ramble leaves Belvedere Castle at 11 AM.

Best item of the day: the Urban Park Rangers run overnight family camping at the Great Hill, in through Strangers’ Gate from 7 PM.

Sat Aug 15 — the training run has the drives 7–10:30, and 110th goes car-free

The TCS New York City Marathon Training Series 12M is the first of NYRR’s two marathon build-up runs — two full loops of the drives at race pace, with Race-Day Central behind Ballfield #8 near East Drive and 102nd and staging from around 5:30 AM. The drives stay open, but they carry heavy runner volume for three and a half hours. Go before 7 or after 11, or use the bridle path and the Reservoir.

The escape route is at the top of the park: Summer Streets Week 3 closes 110th to cars between Frederick Douglass Circle and Adam Clayton Powell, 7 AM–3 PM.

The rest of Saturday is the fullest day of the week:

  Chess lecture and simul with Michael Rohde, 11 AM at the Chess and Checkers House
  Storytelling at the Hans Christian Andersen statue, 10 AM–1 PM
  Model yacht racing at Kerbs Boathouse, 9 AM–3 PM
  Blues Traveler, Gin Blossoms and Spin Doctors at Rumsey, 6 PM
  Tango at the Shakespeare statue, 6–9 PM
  Skate circle at Dead Road, 2–7 PM, and Unitymarketsny at 110th and Lenox, 9 AM–7 PM

The East Meadow is closed both weekend days.

Sun Aug 16 — CRCA at 4 AM, then the north end all afternoon

The Central Park Racing Series owns East Drive 4:00–8:30 AM. Two race mornings back to back is worth planning around rather than discovering — Saturday’s training run and Sunday’s crit series with no gap between them. After 8:30 you have the drive back, at a comfortable 82°.

Then:

  Seneca Village Tour, 11 AM from Mariners’ Gate
  M.A.R. Quintet, 2 PM at the Dana Discovery Center, inside Summer on the Harlem Meer 9 AM–6 PM
  Taiwanese Waves 10th Anniversary at Rumsey, 6 PM — 9m88, ØZI and YELLOW
  Sunrise Meditation Gathering at the Pool, 9 AM–12, and Flowaroundnyc yoga at the Great Hill, 5–7:30 PM
  International Folkdancers at King Jagiello Plaza from 11 AM

Quick recap

  Four dead days. Nothing at all Monday or Wednesday; the loop is clear all week.
  Monday is 92° with evening storms — the hardest day of the stretch.
  Friday breaks the heat, free music at the Bandshell 3–7 PM, family camping overnight at the Great Hill.
  Saturday 7–10:30 AM the drives carry the marathon training run. 110th is car-free 7 AM–3 PM as the alternative.
  Sunday 4–8:30 AM CRCA has East Drive. Two race mornings back to back.
  Three nights of music: Bandshell Friday, Blues Traveler Saturday, Taiwanese Waves Sunday.
  East Meadow closed all weekend.

Have a good week,
Central Park Guide