New York, America’s largest city, economic powerhouse of the world, and the so-called Big Apple, also reigns as a perfect capital of entertainment and the arts, where it’s agreed that “if you can’t find it here, you can’t find it anywhere.”

From Macy’s Thanksgiving Parades and New Year’s Eves on Time Square to the Westminster Kennel Club Show, New York events continue with Chinese New Year celebrations, International Fringe Festivals, Lesbian and Gay Pride Marches and U.S. Open tennis excitement.

Hardly a week goes by without a special event taking place in New York. In fact, there are some 50 officially recognized parades each year and more than 400 street fairs. New Year’s Eve celebrations at Times square are much talked about and quite famous after which there is a 5 mile midnight run in the Central Park. There is a procession of sheep, camels and donkeys on 5th January, where thousands of children wander up Fifth Avenue for the Three Kings Parade. The St Patrick's Day Parade down Fifth Avenue on 17 March has been held every year for 200 years.

There is Tribeca Film Festival in May, co-organized by Robert DeNiro. The JVC Jazz Festival is also held in June, also the Mermaid Parade , for which some of the city's most glamorous residents transform the Coney Island boardwalk into a sea of sequins on the last weekend of the month.

On 4 July, Independence Day, there are spectacular fireworks by Macy's sponsors on the East River. In August, the city's premier black neighborhood celebrates Harlem Week and on Labor Day over one million people take part in the biggest single event for the year, West Indian American Day Carnival Parade, Brooklyn. The New York Film Festival also takes place in September. Halloween Parade on October 31 is worth watching, when the kooks take over Sixth Ave in the West Village. Back in the straight world, Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in November is always popular, there is Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting on the following Tuesday.