24 Brooklyn Experiences You Can’t Miss in 2024

Some New Yorkers face the new year head-on – quite literally diving in – as participants in the annual Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge. But if you missed your chance to brave the frigid waters, there are still plenty of iconic Brooklyn moments you can experience all year round.

To (kind of) quote Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally, when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life in Brooklyn, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

Brooklyn Org has you covered with a roundup of 24 can’t-miss experiences to connect to your community in 2024. Let’s see how many of the following activities you can check off your list, from painting murals across the borough, to tackling a new language, celebrating local nonprofits, and more!

Winter

1. Stretch and do yoga with the cats at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe, NYC’s only nonprofit cat cafe
2. Celebrate outstanding local nonprofits at Brooklyn Org’s 2024 Spark Breakfast on March 5th
3. Join a conversation group at the Brooklyn Public Library to practice a new language
4. Create upcycled flower arrangements for older adults and domestic violence survivors with BloomAgainBklyn
5. Explore the history of Brooklyn’s first free Black community with a tour at Weeksville Heritage Center
6. Write letters to bring comfort and connection to LGBTQ+ immigrants in detention with QDEP

Spring

7. Organize family events in Sunset Park with the Parent-Child Relationship Association

8. Attend a dance performance by the Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet

9. Grow your giving by opening a Donor Advised Fund with Brooklyn Org

10. Gather a group of friends to do volunteer gardening in Fort Greene Park

11. Visit the Wyckoff House Museum (New York’s oldest building) to see their working farm and beehives

12. Spread sunflower seeds in vacant spots across NYC with Green Guerillas

Summer

13. March at Brooklyn’s Annual Pride Parade with the Brooklyn Community Pride Center

14. Paint a mural with Groundswell Community Mural Project

15. Captain a float along Surf Avenue at the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade

16. Support our city’s smallest businesses by getting lunch from a local street vendor

17. Explore Brownsville’s art, culture, and entrepreneurship at the Be on Belmont festival

18. Dance down Eastern Parkway at the West Indian American Day Carnival for J’Ouvert

Fall

19. Honor champions of racial justice at Brooklyn Org’s annual Changemakers Ball

20. Take in free concerts and artists on the porches of Flatbush’s Victorian-era homes at the Artmaggedon festival

21. Take a class taught by immigrant teachers and professors outdoors in Prospect Park

22. Rally your friends and families to give big to Brooklyn nonprofits on GivingTuesday, December 3rd

23. Distribute groceries and meals for your neighbors in need with Council of Peoples Organization and Mixteca

24. Advocate for immigrant communities with Asian American Federation and the New York Immigration Coalition

Year-Round

Brooklyn is home to hundreds of grassroots nonprofit organizations that can benefit from your expertise or just your hard work! Explore our directory of local nonprofits to find an organization that matches your interests at nonprofits.brooklyn.org.