NYC events in October 2022

1. Geek out at New York Comic Con

Get your silicone ears and Infinity Gauntlets ready: The biggest pop culture event in North America is back—New York Comic Con 2022! It’s back in person this year from October 6-9 and filled with can’t-miss panels, celebrities and all the cosplay you could ever fantasize about, this event is one of the best things to do in fall. Don’t forget to binge the best superhero and action movies on Netflix before you tune in to get in the spirit!

2. Check out Newfest, New York’s LGBTQ+ film fest

New York’s biggest LGBTQ+ film festival, Newfest, will return this autumn with a hybrid model running from October 13-25 — the 34th annual rendition of the event. The 2022 hybrid edition of Newfest will include 130+ brand new LGBTQ+ stories, special events, panel conversations, and parties throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan under the theme “Films that Make you Want to Say Gay.”

Here’s the full schedule of documentaries, feature films, shorts and more. A few highlights include: “Please Baby Please,” a neon-lit fantasia about newlyweds who find themselves on diverging sexual journeys featuring Demi Moore; “Out in the Ring,” a documentary about the rise of LGBTQIA+ pro wrestlers; and “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” a documentary about activist Nan Goldin.

3. Toast to Oktoberfest

Contrary to its moniker, Oktoberfest, the annual autumnal celebration anchored in Munich, Germany, with satellite festivities all over the globe, kicks off in the last days of summer.

Lucky for you, New York City hosts some of the best boozy, musical sausage fests in the world.This year’s events include weeks-long waterside parties and brewery bashes—all with plenty of German (and local!) beer to celebrate the season.

The party continues all month. 

4. Try these new restaurants

This fall, the 2022 restaurant forecast is particularly promising.

In the weeks and months ahead, we’re looking at a restaurant offering a seafood tower, new food from celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson, a spot with a supposedly secret address, exciting cocktail programs, glamorous dining rooms and unending new chances to nab reservations before they run out. 

Dig out your boots, dust off your most convincing faux-leather jacket and plan your leaf-crunching route to the most anticipated restaurant openings in NYC this fall.

5. See SO many pumpkins at the Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze

The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze is back with surreal creations this year, like a giant pumpkin dragon and NYC streetscape made of hundreds of pumpkins each. 

The massive blaze has two locations—Hudson Valley returns to its location at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson for the 18th year and Blaze: Long Island returns to Old Bethpage Village Restoration in Old Bethpage for the third year.

Blaze: Hudson Valley will run for 54 nights from September 16 through November 20. Blaze: Long Island will run for 28 nights from September 30 through November 6.

6. Go to the New York Film Festival

More prestigious and established than the “cooler” Tribeca Film Festival, which was co-founded by Robert De Niro in the early aughts, the New York Film Festival is underway.

The 60th iteration of the movie fête, presented by Film at Lincoln Center, will take over theaters in the five boroughs through October 16.