6 NYC March Events to Make You Crawl Out of Hibernation

Winter 2016, it got me. I succumbed. The blight that affects what? Three out of every four New Yorkers? 9 in 10? The 99%? I’m talking about HIBERNATION. We live in the greatest city in the world and suddenly want to spend as little time outside our shoe-box apartments as possible! It’s too cold! Seamless exists! Netflix is my new hobby!

But all that’s changing. It’s March! Sure, it’s supposed to snow this weekend, but even so New Yorkers every where are poking their heads out of their take-out box/blanket-fort caves. Lured by the smell of Cadbury eggs and sangria? Perhaps. It officially turns spring in March! Only 17 more days!

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I went for a walk on the High Line on March 1st (my winter hibernation isn’t chronic) and stumbled across the first signs of spring. Which was equally OMG-I LOVE-FLOWERS exciting and OMG-CLIMATE-CHANGE scary. Tiny pink blossoms that were tricky to photograph.

The view of the setting sun from the High Line: a very good reason not leave your apartment hibernation.

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Looking for more reasons to forsake your sweat pants? I want as many as I can get! Luckily NYC March events are some of my favorite of the year!

The Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden 

This is the most beautiful reason you’ll ever find to visit the Bronx. The New York Botanical Garden fills their conservatory with orchids every February. Did you know orchids in such large quantities are proven to obliterate the winter blues?

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The 2016 show “Orchidelirium” opened to the public February 27th and runs through April 27th. I went last year on the day I lost my job and it made me feel better in every way! Go early, while it’s still cold and gray outside. I’m going to check out their Orchid Evenings this year as I imagine the flowers are even prettier when one is slightly tipsy! (Plus Goldstar has a deal on Orchid Evening tickets!)

Village Voice Choice Eats 

It can be hard to shake yourself from a seemingly endless Seamless cycle. So do it in a big, delicious way! Take your mouth out to Village Voice Choice Eats on March 11th.

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[Photo Credit: Farooq Alihassan]
An open bar and sampling of dishes from 65 restaurants from across the 5 boroughs, you’ll remember just how incredible the experience of sharing food can be. Instead of grunting at your delivery man you’ll converse with the actual chefs who create an incredible variety of cuisines. Sample dishes you’d be too afraid to order (last year trying different goat dishes was a surprising delight) and get a dozen new Instagram followers with your stellar#foodporn pictures. Find out which restaurants are attending and buy tickets over at their website.

5th Avenue Saint Patrick’s Day Parade

Many New Yorkers it a point to hibernate on March 17th. St. Patrick’s Day is notorious for belligerent, drunken crowds. Last year I was working so close to the parade it seemed silly not to check it out. Happily, it exceeded my expectations in every way!

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It’s rare to find a true celebration of Ireland and Irish Americans on St. Patrick’s Day, but that’s exactly what this parade is! Sure, there were some drunken idiots, but they were the minority and generally frowned upon by other attendees. I met people from all over the world, my favorite were 3 Irish tourists who thought it was the best day ever. Wear green and save your drinking for elsewhere, the parade starts at 11AM and runs along 5th Avenue from 44th to 79th Street. According to the website, it ends around 4:30PM making it a crazy long parade and allowing plenty of time to stop by.

Macaron Day!

Long time readers well know- J’ADORE Macaron Day! Oui, oui! I’ve been obsessed with this day of Parisian sweetness and blogged about it extensively since 2013. Macaron Day, March 20th is on a Sunday this year so you needn’t just run out on your lunch (and expect bigger crowds)!

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For the uninitiated, Macaron Day started in France and was brought to NYC in 2009 by renown pastry chef Francois Payard. Basically it’s a celebration of France and their superior patiserie! Beaucoup bakeries (the list is longer this year!) all over the city hand out free macarons. Oui! Free! There’s no catch! For any macarons you do buy, a portion of the sale goes to benefit City Harvest. Magnifique, non? Map out a macaron crawl and visit a string of shops in the East Village, the West Village, or Midtown using this handy dandy Macaron Day map. It’s a sweet, sweet, time on the first day of Spring!

Full Bunny Contact

This wacky Easter event that will make you feel like a kid again! It’s hard to describe this “Extreme Egg Hunt/ Cage Match & Insane Easter Event” but I tried my best in this blog from last Easter: 

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It’s been such a success for the past two years, FBC is back at it again! Tickets are on sale now with the event running almost the full week before Easter: March 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 with special Family Hours on the weekend. There’s a “Special Gay Night Dance Party” late into Friday night- does that mean go-go dancer bunnies???- which is sure to be a ridiculous time.

NYC Easter Bonnet Parade 

Another one of my favorite NYC events! It is a very unique NYC in that it’s completely unorganized- no floats, just people wearing AMAZING hats. Wander around 5th Avenue between 49th and 57th Streets any you’ll see amazing creativity just sitting on peoples heads!

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There’s no officially contest, but winners are clearly chosen by the amount of media attention. Last year was my 3rd time attending but my first wearing a bonnet. I went with the cast of The Jane Games and we ended up in the New York Times’ Bill Cunningham feature!

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This year I’m thinking of making a New York Cliché hat…any one want to join me? 10am-4pm on Easter Sunday March 27th!

Hope you’re now inspired to leave your apartment! What are you most looking forward to this spring?

 

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About New York Cliche

NYC lifestyle blog by Mary Lane. Events, adventures, epic mistakes, dating, life, humor. A 30-something trying to make it (and make out) in the city of dreams.

4 thoughts on “6 NYC March Events to Make You Crawl Out of Hibernation

  1. Awesome list! I kind of want to hibernate some more because I have hibernation pounds to get rid of. I might be the only one who went straight for the food events in your list, but I’m okay with that…sort of. I have to do Macaron day this year, I always miss because of someone else..j’adore les macarons aussi!
    Trudy recently posted…3 Day 3 Quote Challenge Day 3My Profile

    1. Haha! I was just thinking I might write a post tomorrow about “hibernation pounds”! We are so on the same page 🙂 Hooray for your first Macaron Day- I’m excited already!

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