Welcome to Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival 2026 at Gotham Park

Welcome to Chinatown is putting Mid-Autumn on the grass under the Brooklyn Bridge. Friday through Sunday, October 2–4, 2026, the hours are 1 to 7 p.m. at Gotham Park, 1 Rose Street.

Gotham Park sits where the Bowery ends and Park Row begins. It is the last open ground before the bridge and the first stretch of Chinatown if you walk in from Brooklyn. The park group is trying to keep that leftover land useful. Welcome to Chinatown, the neighborhood small-business nonprofit, is running the weekend with them.

The group started in March 2020, when Vic Lee and Jennifer Tam, two Asian American women living in Chinatown, watched foot traffic collapse. It is now its own 501(c)(3). The festival is their public version of that work: get people onto the block, then send them into the shops after. NewYork-Presbyterian is listed as grand patron. Chinatown B.I.D., GFP Real Estate, Ultra Mobile, and Squarespace's APID program are also on the support line.

The vendor card is a Chinatown pop-up mix. Anna Ye Tea and Bà Thảo’s Kitchen are Vietnamese. Chenzi is selling Fuzhou-style potato balls. Food Trip NYC is Filipino street food from chefs Laika Dacalos and Jae de Castro. Spicy Make Me Cry is Thai. Ipoh Cornerstore is a Malaysian micro-bakery. Homecoming Matcha is a Cantonese-inspired tea stall. Tay Ninh Food lists bánh mì and grilled pork. Treat the list as a starting point. Stalls move.

Makers share the same lawn. Gordon & Li Li, the Mandarin-English children's brand, is using the weekend to push a Mid-Autumn picture book. Clin Ceramics, Kintsugi Print Studio, and a few candle and print stalls are on the posted maker card. You do not need all of them. Two food lines and one craft table is enough.

Saturday, October 3, has the only hour-by-hour list: storytime with Gordon & Li Li at 1:30, family mahjong with Sokie Lee at 2, mooncake Play-Doh with Bo & Mei at 3, lantern-making at 4, a lantern parade at 5, and a raffle at 5:30. That is the day to come if you have kids. Friday and Sunday are the same 1 to 7 window without that card.

Moonlite's NYC Mid-Autumn Fest was the Saturday before, a twelve-hour warehouse night in East Williamsburg, right after the holiday. This is the neighborhood version, outdoors, a week later. The same Saturday as the lantern parade, the Korean Parade is in Midtown and JAPAN Fes is on 4th Avenue. Pick one. Queens Night Market is still running Saturdays through October 31 if you want Flushing Meadows after dark.

The 4, 5, and 6 trains to Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall, or the J/Z to Chambers, drop you a short walk away. The park is small. Arrive before the lantern parade if you want a sightline. Questions go to (332) 241-9063 on weekdays.

Our take: do Saturday if you can. The parade is the reason. Eat from two stalls and walk Canal after. If you already did Moonlite, this is the Chinatown follow-up.

When: October 2–4, 2026, 1–7 p.m.
Where: Gotham Park, 1 Rose St, New York, NY 10038