Cheap and Free NYC Events, June 15-17, 2012! Happy Father's Day!

Editor's Note: Hi all! Happy Father's Day weekend! I hope you find plenty of cheap and free events to share with dad all weekend long! Also please scroll down for info on the Tom Sachs SPACE PROGRAM MARS exhibit that ends on Sunday.

Friday June 15, 2012

You’ll have to grab some Floo powder or get your Apparition license to attend Epic Win’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Ass-kaboom, 9:30 p.m., Tada Theater, 15 W. 28th St. bet Broadway & 5th Ave. cost: $15, buy tkts here!

Rooftop Films brings the glitz and glamour of the Sundance Film Festival to the Big Apple when they screen Sundance Film Festival Shorts tonight. Doors open @ 8 p.m., with live music @ 8:30 p.m., and the films start screening@ 9 p.m., Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, LES, cost: $12, buy tkts here!

War of the Buttons screens tonight as part of the Films on the Green series, sponsored by the French Embassy in NYC. All films begin around 8:30 p.m., Washington Square Park, cost: free!

Learn how to improve your photography skills with this class taught by Brooklyn Creative! 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m., Brooklyn Creative, 33 Washington Street, cost: $5!

Today is the last day to partake in the Bouillabaisse Festival at participating NYC restaurants!
Don’t forget the Coney Island fireworks start up again tonight for the summer, there are a few days left to participate in the Sizzlin' Summer Record + CD Sale 2012, which ends on Sunday, and there is another free Celebrate Brooklyn concert tonight!


Saturday June 16, 2012

All aboard for Oyster Craziness 3.0! 2p.m. to 5 p.m., Brooklyn Oenology, 85 North 3rd Street, Suite 106. cost: $1 an oyster!

Join Municipal Walking Tours as they explore el barrio! “Join Luke Nephew, artist, educator and co-founder of the community-based arts collective The Peace Poets, for a tour of El Barrio Today Arts Cluster, a coalition of East Harlem organizations who have joined forces to raise awareness about the cultural richness of El Barrio. Come explore the neighborhood. Vibrant public art, beautiful community gardens, rich cultural organizations and one of a kind stores make East Harlem an unique place in New York. Highlights include the Graffiti Wall of Fame, Julia de Burgos Boulevard, local murals and much more.” 2 p.m., Meeting place revealed after RSVP, Cost: $20, Please purchase tickets online here or call (212) 935-2075, Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.!

Celebrate the Sixties on Broadway as the delightful songstress Jenny Lynn Stewart and her accompanist William Lewis perform songs from popular musicals of the decade including: "Hello Dolly," "Mame," "Camelot," "Fiddler on the Roof," and others! 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Bruno Walter Auditorium, 1 Lincoln Plaza, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, free!

Traverse Union Sq. with dad today as part of iAdventure’s first ever Father’s Day Scavenger Hunt and Dunk Your Dad BBQ After Party! After all that running around, rest your feet at the after-party with BBQ food, Dunk Your Dad in our Dunk Tank and "Dad Challenges!" The scavenger hunt winners will also be announced and given a prize! 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Sidebar, 118 East 15th Street @ Irving Place, cost is $25, BUT inc -Scavenger Hunt Participation, one burger OR hot dog with a side of fries, one ice cream bar, unlimited soft drinks, and one beer for Dad! Scavenger hunt teams can consist of up to six people. Buy tkts here!

Red Hook Pride Events will be happening all day today throughout the neighborhood! the streets in Billy-Burg become more bike and pedestrian-friendly with Williamsburg Walks today, and the Atlantic Avenue Extravaganza is happening today!

Saturday and Sunday June 16 and 17, 2012

Get “crafty” w/the American Crafts Festival at Lincoln Center! Saturday: Noon-9 p.m., Sunday: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. cost: free to attend, pay for what you buy!

Charleston it up with the Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Governors Island, cost: $15 online here or @ the door!

Observe Father’s Day with walking tours hosted by Discovery Walking Tours! “Two tours for the price of one for Father’s Day Weekend. First a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to discuss its creation and history. Then a tour of sites in Brooklyn Heights associated with the Dodgers, including Duke Snider’s home and where Jackie Robinson was signed.” 2 p.m. both days, Call 212-465-3331 for reservations and meeting place. Cost: $20!

Help Dad feel like a child again with a bowl of sugary cereal and Sat morning cartoons! Nighthawk is hosting "Spoons Toons and Booze" with a special Father’s Day theme incorporating cartoons from the 40’s to the 90’s, so there will be something for all dads! Both days will also feature contests, drink and food specials! 12 p.m., Nighthawk Cinema, 136 Metropolitan Ave., Williamsburg, cost: $11 for adults, $9 for seniors, buy tkts here!

Plus The Seed, “a vegan experience" will be happening, $20/day or $30 for two days (inc an appearance by the Bust Craftacular!)

Sunday June 17, 2012

The Municipal Arts Society takes on pre-Stonewall Greenwich Village! ”From the drag balls at Webster Hall to the lesbian owned haunts of Macdougal Street to the clubs featuring "Pansy Acts" to the slummers who would comb the Village to ogle the "fairies and dykes" cavorting openly in public, Greenwich Village was a major center of LGBT life almost half a century before the Stonewall rebellion. Join urbanist Laurence Frommer for a walk through pre-Stonewall life as embodied in NYC's quintessential enclave for those escaping the restrictions of mainstream society. Everyone is welcome!” 2 p.m., Meeting place revealed after RSVP, cost: $20, buy tkt here!

Bring in some noise to your life with today’s 12-hour Bang on a Can Marathon! 12 p.m., World Financial Center, 220 Vesey Street (between North End Ave. and West St.), cost: free!

Park yourself in Prospect Park for today’s Food Truck Rally! Vendors include Luke's Lobster, Mudtruck, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, and Wafels & Dinges, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Prospect Park Grand Army Plaza, cost: free to attend, pay-for-what-you buy!

Join Tony-nominated artist Elizabeth Swados for "Jewish Books Cooking," which uses well-known Jewish-themed children’s books to create an original production For more information go here! , 1 p.m., Bryant Park Carousel, 40th Street bet Fifth and Sixth Avenues, cost: free!

Catch up on Breaking Bad before the fifth season starts! Brooklyn Winery is playing episodes from the fourth season starting tonight w/the first four episodes from the fourth season! They will also screen the fifth season premiiere on July 15, 2012, 7 p.m., Brooklyn Winery, 213 North 8th Street, cost: free!

Take Dad on a Nosh Walk with the Big Onion The Annual Fathers Day Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour! "This tour combines the history of the diverse Lower East Side with a series of small food sampling, or “noshing” stops from local shops and markets. The main focus of our tour is the history of the multi-ethnic Lower East Side emphasizing the neighborhoods of the Jewish East Side, Little Italy and Chinatown. During the course of our walk we will sample about 10 different items, representing the Dominican, Jewish, Italian, and Chinese communities of the Lower East Side. Most of these items are vegetarian or dairy. All food sampling will be done outdoors and we do not include restaurants on our tour. Our “noshing” tour uses the markets & shops to highlight the history and this walk should not be considered a meal.” 1 p.m., meet @ SW corner of Delancey and Essex Streets, in front of the American Choice Deli/Chase Bank, cost $23 (inc food), Big Onion requests reservations for this tour, so pls send your name, date you wish to attend, and number of people in your party to info@bigonion.com. They will confirm via email.

Also today…Dads get a free breakfast at IKEA, half-price beers for Dads today at Duke’s, there’s catfish carryout esp for dads @ the Beer Table (reserve your box lunch in advance here,  there is a Father’s Day Concert with Randy Weston presented by MoCADA, and The Red Hook Jazz Festival is happening today ($10 sugg. donation), a giant Lit mag Fair at Housing Works Bookstore sponsored by CLMP, MillionTreesNYC is hosting a free Tree Care and Flower Planting event, and there is a special Father's Day Sing-A-Long at Lefferts Historic House with Rory Dineen as well!

If you still have not bught a Father's Day gift, here are suggestions from the Strand!

Also happening all w/e long is the Smart Plays Festival (thru July 20, 2012) with tkts only $20 at the door! Presented by Piper Theatre Productions, to benefit the Piper Education Program, Old Stone House in Washington Park in Brooklyn. At the performance on July 11, the audience will vote on their favorite one-act and the winner will receive a $500 prize, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Lincoln Center (through June 28, 2012), and the Northside Festival is running thru the 21st!


Looking Forward…The Ensemble Studio Theater’s wrap-up of its Youngblood Bloodworks Play Series is this week, starting on Monday, free!

Don’t miss Malaysian Restaurant Week, June 18 – 24. "This means you get to try some delicious Malaysian food at great prices! A three-course prix fixe menu is only $20.12 at nine different restaurants around the city, with some participating restaurants in NJ and CT!"