Spare Times for June 22-29 LUMEN 2012 (Saturday) It wasn't until February that Christopher Eamon, the curator of Lumen festival on Staten Island, knew that the mountains of salt weren't going anywhere. This free festival, dedicated to video, interactive and performance art, is being held from 6 p.m. until midnight at the Atlantic Salt Company, which provides New York with road salt. This year's mild winter meant the mounds didn't budge. So Mr. Eamon and Melanie Cohn, executive director of the Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island, the festival's sponsor, decided to use the 150,000 tons of salt as a canvas. The biggest mound will serve as a screen for projections - Marco Brambilla's re-creation of the lunar landing, and a neon salt digger courtesy of a Brooklyn artist, Jeanne Verdoux, who made the cut in a local open call. The others will be surrounded by performances and site-specific installations. "We're going to shape the salt in various formations and do something like a salt Zen garden," Mr. Eamon said via Skype on Tuesday. This is the largest Lumen yet, said Ms. Cohn, with 50 artists - including the likes of Tony Oursler and Alex Prager - across an industrial site, a Poemobile (a truck that shares local poets" work) and food trucks. The setting, on the bank of Kill Van Kull tidal strait, is its own attraction: "You can see the edge of Manhattan," Ms. Cohn said, "and these huge container boats come through." She added, "There's something very dramatic about that." The festival also includes film, dance, projections on buildings, and other things that would not necessarily fit into a gallery setting. Rama Chorpash is using live fireflies to recreate what Staten Island looked like, preindustrialization. "It's such an amazing opportunity for experimentation," Mr. Eamon said. So outside the white box. More details are available at lumenfest.org. Melena Ryzik Spare Times American Folk Art Museum: Free Music Fridays (Friday) Dave Doobinin, Nick Africano and Halle and the Jilt will perform. El Museo del Barrio: Walking Tour (Saturdays) This weekly tour of East Harlem will cover the culture and daily life of the neighborhood, meeting at the museum at 11:30 a.m. (through July 28). 1230 Fifth Avenue, at 104th Street, East Harlem, (212) 831-7272, elmuseo.org; $9. Museum of the City of New York: "Booms, Bubbles and Busts: Spectacular Moments in New York Banking History" (Monday) A discussion on the history of the stock market with writers and others including Steve Fraser, author of "Every Man a Speculator: A History of Wall Street in American Life"; Barry Ritholtz, author of "Bailout Nation: How Greed and Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy"; and Robert E. Wright, a professor at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D.; the moderator will be Mark Gongloff, the chief financial writer for The Huffington Post. At 6:30 p.m., Fifth Avenue, at 103rd Street, (917) 492-3395, mcny.org; $12, $8 for students and 65+, $6 for members. 170 Central Park West, at 77th Street, (212) 873-3400, nyhistory.org; $35, $20 for members. $150 for a package of six separate tastings, $100 for members. Uptown Festival of New Plays (Friday through Sunday) This playwright festival, hosted by Morris-Jumel Mansion in partnership with the People's Theater Project, will showcase works in progress inspired by the Washington Heights neighborhood: "Waiting for the "D" " on Friday, "On the 1 Train" on Saturday, and "The Juxtaposition of Gladys Ricart" on Sunday. Performances on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., followed by a closing garden party at 4:30 p.m., Morris-Jumel Mansion, 65 Jumel Terrace, at Sylvan Terrace, Washington Heights, (212) 923-8008, morrisjumel.org; pay what you can. Avenue of the Americas Summerfest (Saturday) From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., between 34th and 42nd Streets. Sponsored by the Church of St. John the Baptist. Bleecker Street Merchants and Residents Association Street Fair (Saturday) 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Bleecker Street, between Avenue of the Americas and Broadway. Center for Jewish History: "Destination Shanghai: The Jewish Community of Shanghai, 1936-1949" (Friday through Sept. Community Board No. 6 Street Fair (Friday) 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on 43rd Street, between Third and Lexington Avenues. Delta Dugout (Friday through Sunday) The setting will be indoors at Grand Central Terminal, but a lot of the action featured at this annual baseball event will be taking place outdoors at Citi Field in Queens. Visitors to the terminal can view the subway series between the Mets and the Yankees on screens set up at the station, and take part in activities that include trivia contests, batting games and discussions with players and coaches. The free event is sponsored by Delta Air Lines. Friday from 7 a.m. to 10:10 p.m.; Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10:15 p.m.; Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal, grandcentralterminal.com. International Immigrants Parade (Saturday) The parade will set off at noon on Avenue of the Americas, between 43rd and 56th Streets. Mermaid Parade and Ball (Saturday) The mermaids and mermen will gather for the 30th edition of this salute to summer on Coney Island. Guest participants include the actress Annabella Sciorra as the Queen Mermaid and the comedian Jackie Martling as King Neptune. The parade sets off at 2 p.m. at West 21st Street and Surf Avenue and continues to the Boardwalk and West 15th Street. An after party for those 21 and older, with music, comedy and burlesque, runs from 7 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. at the New York Aquarium, Surf Avenue and West Eighth Street; tickets are $30 or $75 (which includes drinks and food); otherwise there will be a cash bar and food for sale. Sponsored by Coney Island USA. coneyisland.com. NYC Pride Events (Saturday and Sunday) This annual celebration of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender pride takes to the streets and piers this weekend with music, dancing and a procession. Two dances - one for men and the other for women - will take place at Pier 57, 15th Street and the West Side Highway. The "Rapture on the River" for women takes place Saturday from 4 to 11 p.m., and the "Dance on the Pier" for men is on Sunday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tickets for Saturday are $25 in advance, $35 at the gate or $75, which includes the after party; Sunday's is $90 or $165 for V.I.P. admission. On Sunday the NYC LGBT Pride March will begin at noon at Fifth Avenue and 36th Street and head south to Christopher and Greenwich Streets. Already under way will be the street celebration known as Pridefest, which will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Hudson Street, between Abingdon Square and West 14th Street. Details for all events can be found at nycpride.org. Photoville (Friday through Sunday) Shipping containers function as gallery space for this photography exhibition in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Sponsored by United Photo Industries, this exhibition, which runs for the next two weekends, features works by photographers from the around the world, as well as panel discussions, workshops and other activities. It is all free and runs rain or shine on Friday from 4 to 10 p.m.; Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Also Thursday through June 30.) photovillenyc.org. (Saturday) Members of the People's Improv Theater have put together this revue of skits lampooning politics and popular culture. River to River Festival (Sunday through Thursday) This free monthlong cultural festival in Lower Manhattan will feature concerts, art and family activities. This weekend the choreographer Sylvain Émard Danse will lead an interactive performance, "Le Grand Continental," on Pier 16. Professional dancers as well as audience members of all ages will be directed to create a modern festive line dance. Each performance is followed by a dance party on Pier 17. Presented by the Joyce Theater and River to River Festival. A full schedule of festival events is at rivertorivernyc.com. Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., Pier 16 and 17, South Street Seaport, Fulton and Front Streets, Lower Manhattan, (212) 219-9401; free. Times Square Block Party (Sunday) 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., on 46th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. Sponsored by the Church of Scientology. Tropfest New York (Saturday) Films by three New Yorkers will be among the works being screened during Tropfest New York, a short film festival and competition that will take place in Bryant Park. Eight shorts will be screened during the festival, which will begin with music at 3 p.m. The screenings begin at 8 p.m. The festival is modeled after the first Tropfest that was held 20 years ago in Sydney, Australia. The judges include the actors Rose Byrne ("Bridesmaids"), Judah Friedlander ("30 Rock") and Jennifer Westfeldt ("Friends With Kids"), as well as Scott Foundas, a film critic and associate director of programming at the Film Society of Lincoln Center; the actor Hugh Jackman is the host. For more details visit tropfest.com. Kevin Kline and Dianne Wiest in Benefit Reading (Monday) The two actors will take part in a staged reading of "I Take Your Hand in Mine...," a play by Carol Rocamora based on the love letters of Anton Chekhov and Olga Knipper. Tickets are $125; proceeds will benefit the Acting Company. At 7 p.m., Kaye Playhouse, Hunter College, 68th Street, between Lexington and Park Avenues, (800) 838-3006, (212) 258-3111, brownpapertickets.com. Theater at the Actors" Temple (Sunday) Two veteran television actors, Larry Storch ("F Troop") and Marie Wallace ("Dark Shadows") will appear in A.R. Gurney's two-character play "Love Letters." At 7 p.m., Actor's Temple, 339 West 47th Street, Clinton, (212) 245-6975, theactorstemple.org; $25 in advance, $30 at the door, $20 for students. "Morrisania: From Suburbia to the Grand Concourse" (Sunday) This two-mile walk in the Bronx, sponsored by the Municipal Art Society, will focus on the redevelopment of the neighborhoods of Mott Haven, Melrose and Morrisania. It begins at 10 a.m., (212) 935-2075, mas.org/tours; $20. The meeting place will be given with reservations. Fort Greene, Brooklyn and a Greenwich Village Tour (Saturday) Both of these tours, led by Big Onion Walking Tours, focus on the social histories of these two areas. The Brooklyn walk, at 11 a.m., will touch on the lives of the writers Marianne Moore and Richard Wright, as well as the neighborhood's connection to the Underground Railroad; it will meet on the southeast corner of Lafayette and Flatbush Avenues. The history of the gay and lesbian residents of the Village, in the days before the Stonewall Rebellion, is the focus of a walk meeting at 2 p.m. on the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Washington Square North. (888) 606-9255, bigonion.com; each tour is $18, $15 for 63+ and students. Manhattan During the War of 1812, the Revolution and Civil War (Saturday and Sunday) Sponsored by NYC Discovery Tours, this Lower Manhattan tour stops at sites associated with noted individuals, including Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, and events like the Draft Riots of 1863. It meets on Saturday at 11:45 a.m. and Sunday at 2:45 p.m., (212) 465-3331; $20. The meeting place with be given with reservations. New York's Lost Eden (Saturday and Sunday) In colonial days the Collect Pond was the main water supply serving Manhattan. This tour, led by In Depth Walking Tours, will focus on its location and why it disappeared. The meeting time is 11 a.m., at the northwest corner of Lafayette and Canal Streets, (917) 607-9019, indepthwalkingtours.com; $20, $15 for 65+. Old Astoria Village (Saturday) A walking tour of this old Queens neighborhood, sponsored by the Greater Astoria Historical Society, will meet at the entrance of Socrates Sculpture Park at 11 a.m., 32-01 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens, (718) 278-0700, astorialic.org; $15, $10 for members. Arthritis Walk (Saturday) This 10th annual fund-raising walk will again consist of two routes - walks of one and three miles - with both beginning and ending at Battery Park. Start time is 10 a.m.; registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation. newyorkaw.kintera.org. Bicycle Tour of Woodlawn Cemetery (Sunday) Riders can learn about the history of this Bronx cemetery and the noted people who are buried there on this tour led by the Friends of Woodlawn Cemetery. It will meet at 10 a.m. at the Jerome Avenue entrance, near Bainbridge Avenue. (718) 920-1469, thewoodlawncemetery.org; $15, $10 for students and members.