518 Weekender: A couple of cool Friday events!

June 05, 2026

In partnership with

Hey 518 readers, we’re putting out this short Friday edition to let you know about two cool events happening today that we didn’t include in yesterday’s 518 Weekender:

The first is the Good Food Fest, organized by Capital Roots. Good Food Fest brings together local food makers, farmers, craft beverage producers, musicians, and community members for a fun, family-friendly event. There’s also a “Best in Brine” pickle contest that costs $5 to taste. Get tix here.

📍Capital Roots Urban Grow Center, 598 River Street, Troy
⏰ Friday, 5-8p, free

🎸 🖼️ First Friday Albany is also happening tonight! Among the highlights is Capital Streets’ Walk & Talk.

Have an awesome weekend, readers! 😎 

—Phat X. Chiem & Karley Sullivan

⭐️ = Top 5 Staff Picks

⭐️ 🖼️ Art on Lark is back, baby! Thousands of people are expected to converge on Lark Street for the return of this iconic street festival. The reincarnation of Art on Lark will feature more than a hundred vendors, plus a solid lineup of musical talent (including our friend, Lulu Grey). Sat, 12-6p, free.

⭐️ 🎨 Openbaar will be competing with Art on Lark for the art fair crowd. From the same folks who put on the Vintage Roundup, this market features local artists, crafters, and other makers. It’s situated in the heart of Albany’s Warehouse District, in front of Lionheart on the Green. Sat, 11a-5p, free. If that weren’t enough, there’s also the Albany Bound Vintage Y2K Panic! market: Sat, 1-6p, free.

⭐️ 💃 Full Out Fest celebrates the joy of dance with a (mostly) free festival at Troy’s Riverfront Park. Featuring 100+ dancers from the Troy Dance Factory, the festival will showcase all kinds of dance styles, from hip-hop to ballet to breakdancing. The musical lineup includes Shiloh the Messenger and LACE, plus Capital Region fave DJ Intell Hayesfield. Read our profile of the festival. Sun, 5-8:30p. Lawn seating is free, $15 for amphitheatre and stage-level seating. Get your tix!

⭐️ 🇫🇷 What a charming idea! This year’s Kids Arts Festival will transform Schenectady’s Jay Square into a Parisian arts district celebrating the beauty, music, and art of France. Imaginative performers and student groups will be entertaining crowds, while more than 50 art activities will be offered along Jay and Franklin Streets. Sat, 12-4p, free.

⭐️ 🇬🇷 From moussaka to souvlaki, delicious Greek food is the main draw of the 2026 Saint Basil Troy Greek Festival. There’s also live music and dance, crafts, and other family activities. All weekend, free.

👀 Keep reading to see more notable events in “What’s Happening.”

💃 Full Out Fest is a full-on celebration of dance

Taking place this Sunday, Full Out Fest is one of Troy’s signature summer events. This year’s show features more than 25 dance numbers, two headlining musical acts (Shiloh the Messenger and LACE), plus Capital Region fave DJ Intell Hayesfield throwing down the beats. There will be lawn games, a vendor market, and lots of delicious food. Three ways to enjoy it:

🏆 Stage level seating
🎟️ Amphitheatre seating (general admission)
🌳 Free public lawn area (1st come/1st served)

Full Out Fest
⏰ Sunday, 5 to 8:30p
📍 Riverfront Park in Troy

SUMMER FUN

🎡 The admission-free Clifton Park Carnival continues through the weekend.

🎭️ The Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York presents Wedding Band, about an African-American seamstress and her white companion during the First World War. Playing at theREP.

💃 Proctors sets the stage for Moulin Rouge! The Musical, based on Baz Lurhmann’s stylized movie.

🎻 The Mostly Modern Festival, a sprawling fest celebrating bold, contemporary classical music, takes place at various venues in Saratoga.

🔥 The 24th annual Cambridge Valley Hot Air Balloon Festival features 4 massive launches of hot air balloons, plus a carnival, craft fair, a car show, and more!

FRIDAY

🎷 The Capital Jazz Collective plays the New Scotland Spirits Tasting Room.

🚶‍♂️Discover a new side of Albany when Capital Streets hosts its Walk & Talk.

🎙️ Put your records on—Corinne Bailey Rae celebrates 20 years since her debut album, at UPH.

🎭️ Sand Lake Center for the Arts presents The Wolves—a girls’ indoor soccer team navigates big questions and wages tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors.

⛴️ Step off the concert hall pedestal and onto the historic Minne-Ha-Ha steamboat for a one-of-a-kind concert where classical music meets cocktail-hour vibes. Part of the Lake George Music Festival.

SATURDAY

🏳️‍🌈 The Schenectady Pride Festival features an appearance by Kandy Muse from RuPaul's Drag Race, plus plenty of other sassy talent and a vendor fair.

🥚 The Egg’s Open House features arcade games, DJ sets, and movie screenings—all free. The RED Bookshelf will also be hosting one of their monthly Family Circle events.

🎬️ Get to the basement of Collar Works for Hell’s Basement, a collab with Picture Lock One & Hellseeker Club. Featuring Hellseeker Goth Nite upstairs and a DJ set and screening downstairs.

🍄‍🟫 Join Luke Sarrantonio for a Forest & Fungi Ecology Walk at the Pine Hollow Arboretum.

🚤 The historic Erie Canal boat Seneca Chief is scheduled to dock at Mohawk Harbor in Schenectady at 3:45 pm this Saturday.

🖼️ Your Friend, Frederic E. Church opens at the Albany Institute of History & Art. The exhibit focuses on the friendship between the famed painter and Albany-based sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer.

📚️ Mingle with local authors and browse one-of-a-kind bookish vendors at the Book Hive’s 2nd annual Book Fest, at Wolf Hollow Brewing Co.

🚣‍♂️ Did you know that Saturday is National Learn to Row Day? And you can try it for free at the Albany Rowing Center.

SUNDAY

🐕️ The Woofstock Music Festival & 5K is back in Scotia, bringing dogs, their humans, and big festival energy to Lions Pavilion for one of the Capital Region’s largest outdoor animal fundraisers.

🏳️‍🌈 Celebrate PRIDE at the 2026 Lower Adirondack Pride Festival is in Glens Falls City Park. Also check out the Gay for Clay Pottery Brunch at Context Collective.

🎙️ The Albany Gay Men’s Chorus performs “Stand Up & Sing Out! Anthems of Justice, Love and Authenticity” at Emmanuel Friedens Church in Schenectady.

☠️ Saratoga’s alternative market, The Last Lap, sets up shop at Putnam Place. And Albany’s Empire Live hosts the Upstate Punk Rock Flea Market.

Our music listings are now published separately on The 518 website. Click here.

GET YOUR EVENT ON THE LIST 🎸

Our rolling deadline is the Saturday before your event!

 💌 GET IN TOUCH!

Got an awesome business, event or personality we should feature? Let us know! Contact: [email protected]

Reply

or to participate.