This weekend is a good one. The Long Island Marathon takes over Eisenhower Park with road closures, the Tulip Festival at Waterdrinker Farm wraps up its final weekend with over 2.5 million blooms still in the ground, a Taylor Swift tribute show lands in Patchogue Sunday afternoon, and Long Island Restaurant Week closes out its spring run. Here's what's worth making plans for.

Long Island Marathon Festival — Eisenhower Park, East Meadow

Saturday–Sunday, May 2–3 | 1899 Hempstead Turnpike, East Meadow, NY 11554

The JOVIA Financial Credit Union Long Island Marathon Festival is the biggest running event on Long Island, and this weekend is its peak. Saturday morning brings the 10K and the 1K Kids Race. Sunday is the main event — the Half Marathon and Full Marathon both start at 7:30 AM, drawing thousands of runners through the park and into the surrounding streets.

If you've never been to Eisenhower Park on Marathon Sunday, here's what to know: Park Boulevard closes at the Hempstead Turnpike entrance at 6 AM. The Merrick Avenue and Stewart Avenue entrance follows at 6:30 AM. If you're parked in lots 1 or 1A on the Merrick Avenue side, you're not moving until after noon. Lots 6, 6A, and 2 off Park Boulevard are your best options but they fill fast, and with road closures in effect before most people are awake, it gets complicated quickly.

For families with runners in the race — spouses, parents, kids who want to be there at the finish — a car service is genuinely the easier call. Drop off at the park entrance before closures, pick up at the finish area when it's done. No repositioning the car. No waiting in a locked-down lot.

Long Island Tulip Festival — Final Weekend at Waterdrinker Farm

Through Sunday, May 3 | 663 Wading River Road, Manorville, NY 11949 | Also at 4560 Sound Ave, Riverhead

This is the last weekend of the 2026 Tulip Festival at Waterdrinker Family Farm. The two farms in Manorville and Riverhead planted over 2.5 million tulips this season — 40 varieties imported from the Netherlands, everything from classic reds and yellows to striped and frayed-petal varieties. If you've been putting this one off, May 3 is your last shot.

Weekend admission is $25 per person (kids two and under are free). U-pick tulip stems are $1 each, paid when you leave. The farm has food trucks and live music on weekends, plus barnyard animals and jump pads if you're bringing kids. No reservations required — walk-up tickets available at the gate.

The Manorville farm is about 50 miles from Hicksville or Huntington — you're looking at 50 to 60 minutes on the LIE to Exit 69, then south on Route 46. Farm parking on a last-weekend sunny day fills up fast, and the entrance road gets backed up. The Riverhead location at Sound Avenue is farther east but gives you the option of combining it with a stop at the North Fork wineries on the way back. We've done plenty of runs out to Manorville for this festival. Drop off at the gate, come back when you're ready to go.

Taylor Swift Tribute Show — Patchogue Theatre, Patchogue

Sunday, May 3 | 4:30 PM | 71 East Main Street, Patchogue, NY 11772

The Patchogue Theatre is hosting a full production Taylor Swift tribute show Sunday afternoon — a high-energy concert recreation of her biggest hits with live performance and full production value. Not a bar cover band. An actual theatrical production built around the catalog.

Patchogue Theatre is right on Main Street in downtown Patchogue, and downtown Patchogue on a Sunday afternoon is already busy. Street parking fills up by mid-afternoon, the garage on Division Street has limited spots, and the 4:30 showtime means you're competing with people finishing up at the waterfront restaurants. If you're coming from Nassau — Garden City, Massapequa, Wantagh — you're 30 to 40 minutes east on the Southern State to the Sunrise Highway. Not a hard drive, but easier when someone else handles both legs.

North Fork Wine Country — Riverhead to Cutchogue

Saturday–Sunday, May 2–3 | Route 25 and Sound Avenue, North Fork

The North Fork wineries are in full spring swing. The vines are starting to leaf out, the tasting rooms are open, and the crowds are still a fraction of what they'll be in July. This is the right time to go — you can actually get a table, the pours are generous, and the drive out Route 25 through Mattituck and Cutchogue is genuinely pretty right now.

The practical reality of a North Fork winery afternoon: you're going to three, maybe four, tasting rooms. You're going to taste at each one. That's a full afternoon of drinking, and you're 70 miles from home. The designated driver situation either means one person doesn't drink or everyone drives more carefully than they should. Neither is the right answer.

We do a lot of North Fork winery runs — full-day or half-day, wherever you want to stop. You set the itinerary, we handle the Route 25 both ways. For groups, it's usually the same price as everyone splitting a few tanks of gas and one of you staying sober.

Long Island Restaurant Week Finale — Nassau and Suffolk

Through Sunday, May 3 | Participating restaurants across Long Island

Long Island Restaurant Week's spring edition closes out Sunday. Three-course prix-fixe menus at participating restaurants across the island — spots in Huntington, Garden City, Patchogue, and out east toward the North Fork are all in the mix. Nick & Toni's in East Hampton is a perennial participant.

The straightforward transportation note: if you're heading out for a nice dinner tonight or Sunday and doing wine pairings, don't drive. Huntington village on a Saturday night is always a parking situation, and if you're heading to the East End for a Restaurant Week dinner, Sunrise Highway back on a Sunday night adds 20 minutes to any reasonable estimate. Plan ahead, have a driver waiting when dinner wraps up.

Getting Around Long Island This Weekend

Marathon Sunday means road closures around Eisenhower Park starting at 6 AM — plan accordingly if you're anywhere near East Meadow. The LIE is manageable earlier in the morning but expect slow traffic around the East Meadow exits for most of Sunday.

For the Tulip Festival, LIE to Exit 69 is your route. Go early — by 11 AM the farm entrance road at Waterdrinker backs up on a nice day.

If you're heading east to the North Fork or the Hamptons, Saturday afternoon on the LIE and Sunday afternoon on Sunrise Highway both slow down once the weekend crowd decides to move. Build in an extra 20 to 30 minutes.

We cover all of it — airport transfers, corporate travel, and days out on Long Island. Whether you need a ride to Eisenhower Park at 6 AM or a driver for the afternoon on the North Fork, the process is the same. Request a quote here and we'll handle the rest.

Best Things To Do on Long Island This Weekend — May 2–3, 2026