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Here’s What’s Happening (in order of appearance):

City Council District 3 Candidate Forum on Preservation Issues / Movies Under the Stars: Barbie / Penn South Co-Op’s Annual Flea Market / Market 57’s PLATFORM Presents AAPI-Themed May Events / Free Programming from HYHK (Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance)  / Music, Art, & More at Verdi Cannabis  / Chelsea Green Park’s Secret Garden Festival 

Penn South Co-Op’s Annual Flea Market: Saturday, May 17, 10am to 4:30pm, Rain or Shine on West 25th Street between 8th & 9th Aves. | How do you know somebody’s lived in their New York City apartment for a very long time? Just take a look at the clothing, books, toys, jewelry, artwork, and household goods stuffed into every available storage space and you’ll find the decades-spanning collection is as revealing as the rings on a tree trunk. But lately, that normally effective evaluation technique has lost its luster among some of the 2,820 units that comprise Chelsea’s sprawling Penn Sourh Co-Op. There’s considerably less clutter these days, as many longtime residents have been immersed in an annual ritual of ruthless spring cleaning, in which only items with exceptional resale value survive the purge. Their next step: One of the tables and racks that savvy shoppers will be pouring over at May 17’s rain-or-shine Penn South Co-Op Annual Flea Market. Past experience being an strong indicator, it’s safe to say the 2025 edition will provide the public with a rare window into the collectible, functional, funky, esoteric, and eclectic items that have been reeled in over the year by firmly entrenched Penn South residents whose storage spaces are bursting at the seams—hence the “catch and release” dynamic at play here, where the people-watching is just as fun as the bargain-hunting.

Market 57’s PLATFORM celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander culture cuisine: At Pier 57 (W. 15th St. & 11th Ave.) | Powered by talent curated by the James Beard Foiundation, Pier 57-based PLATFORM celebrations of May’s Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month began on May 3, with a dinner featuring innovative Vietnamese cuisine; May 4’s Shop and Eat: Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Bake Sale; and a Books and Bites event that had Peter Som and Colu Henry examining the art of dining. The celebration continues with May 7’s Demo & Dine: Learn About Taiwanese Culinary Trends; Chef Jessie YuChen hosts (and cooks!). May 10 offers another dining opportunity, this time featuring, note event organizers, “Japanese excellence” via Chefs Masako Morishita, Atsushi Kono, and Atsuko Fujimoto. On May 14, another Demo & Dine event offers The Banchan Experience with James Beard Foundation Award Semifinalists. On May 14, James Beard Foundation Outstanding Restaurateurs cook up a Chinese-Korean feast. A Malaysian Breakfast is May 18’s brunch offering, featuring the work of James Beard Award Semifinalist Chef Kyo Pang. In the final installment of May’s AAPI-themed PLATFORM programming, May 20’s cooking class lets you Learn the Art of Japanese Fish Preparation. For tickets and more info, click here.

Free Programming from HYHK (Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance)  | HYHK is back with another season of free and fun programming for all ages in Bella Abzug Park (524 W. 34th St.). Check out the full calendar of May-October activities on their website and see the below flyer for several Spring Fling offerings. A Co-presentation of HYHK and Colored Colors, this annual multi-date festival has live music, art activities, food vendors, and artisan-made goods. It takes place from 12pm-7pm on Saturday, May 10 and 24, and June 7 and 21. The final installment on Sunday, June 22, takes place from 12pm to 8pm.

Events at Verdi Cannabis (158 W. 23rd St. btw. 6th & 7th Aves.) | Having recently celebrated its first full year since setting up shop on West 23rd Street, legal cannabis distributor Verdi Cannabis offers free arts programming via gallery-style displays of artwork on their walls, and a live Thursday night music series called The Green Room, whose performances typically take place in the 6:30pm to 9pm time period. On May 1,  3 Day Weekend kicked off that lusty month’s musical performance calendar. May 8, the musical talent is NSA, with Smooth Luxury on May 15, The Dogs on May 22, and Usernames on May 29. In early May, special events cast their cannabis-based spell on the high-stakes gift-giving occasion known as Mother’s Day. May 9, gift in tow, Verdi is the venue for an Ayrloom Mother’s Day Gift-Wrapping Event. May 10, it’s the Smokiez Mother’s Day Bundle Event. From 12-2pm on May 11, a special Mother’s Day edition of Verdi’s Green Room music series features Leather & Lace. Elsewhere on the events calendar, Happy Hounds has a pop-up presence on May 17–and on May 25, it’s High Yoga with your instructor, Emily.

Currently on the walls at Verdi (and available for purchase) is the work of Chelsea-based, self-taught painter Robert W. Petrick, whose art is the expression of a “painting vernacular strongly rooted in the New York School of Conceptual Abstraction and avant garde music.” From work that helped “define the conceptual abstraction movement of the East Village underground” some four decades ago to a recent creation that sees” line and space destroyed by collapsing or being squeezed in on themselves,” Petrick restless explorations push the medium of painting and prod the viewer to contemplate the limitless possibilities within “the confined space of the canvas.” Selections from Petricks’ collection are on view at Verdi through approx. May 25, when the art of Woken Arts goes into rotation .To keep up with what else is up with Verdi, click here to visit their website. To visit the EVENTS page of their website, click here. 

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—Listings Compiled by Scott Stiffler

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