Abbreviated NYC Cheap and Free Weekend Event Picks, Apr. 30-May 2, 2011

Saturday April 30, 2011

Take in a lecture at the Queens Public on “The Charmed Circle: Pablo Picasso and Paris in the early 1900s.” 3:30 p.m., Broadway Branch, Steinway and Broadway, free!
See a midnight screening of The Shining at IFC tonight! (http://www.ifccenter.com/films/the-shining/)
Celebrate Arbor Day Weekend at Prospect Park today (http://www.prospectpark.org/), and Earth Day at McCarren Park (http://www.townsquareinc.com/), and grab free vegetarian food + non-alcoholic beverages at the Sikh Day Parade (http://www.sikhnet.com/events/2011/annual-nyc-sikh-day-parade-manhattan), make and fly a kite at Socrates Sculpture Park (http://socratessculpturepark.org/programs/kiteflight.php), and see a mud wrestling musical! (http://www.scottlyonsandcompany.com/ScottLyons/MUD!.html)!
Saturday, April 30 and Sunday, May 1, 2011

Join Discovery Walking Tours for their Brooklyn Bridge and Tribeca Walking Tour! “Two tours for the price of one! A walk across the bridge to cover its creation and early history, with a discussion of the Roeblings, the designers of the bridge, as well as the sacrifice and dramatic story of the immigrant workers that built it. Then we stroll through the Triangle Below Canal Street, with stops at the Woolworth Building, historic Staple St, the Ghostbusters firehouse, and the original campus of Columbia University.” 2 p.m., call 212-465-3331 to RSVP and meeting place, $18!
You can also check out Sakura Matsuri, the cherry blossom festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (http://www.bbg.org/), take in first reality show American Family at the Paley Center (http://www.paleycenter.org/2011-spring-an-american-family-screenings), and ladies can definitely join in the fun during the Golf Fest at Chelsea Piers (http://www.chelseapiers.com/),
Sunday May 1, 2011
Bike Month NYC starts today (http://www.bikemonthnyc.org/), dance the day away with the Irish Dance Festival in Riverside Park (http://www.irishartscenter.org/dance.htm), and the East Village Marble Cemetery opens with free admission today (http://www.nycmc.org/events.html)
Plus The Tribeca Film Festival is still going strong all weekend with a free family street fair Saturday (http://www.tribecafilm.com/festival), as is the PEN World Voices Festival (http://www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/1096)
Monday May 2, 2011

Get your trivia on, with Last Exit’s Pub Quiz, 9 p.m., Last Exit Bar, 136 Atlantic Ave., $5!
Luca Spaghetti and Elizabeth Gilbert are in conversation at the Union Square B&N (http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/71164), and Ann Packer visits the Strand today (http://www.strandbooks.com)/!
See the play, “Threshold: Six True Stories From Girls who Broke the Rules,” 8 p.m., People Lounge, 163 Allen Street (bet. Stanton and Rivington), $10!