October is a busy month in Queens

October is always a busy month in the United States. It has the United Nations General Assembly, apple-picking, leaf-peeping, Halloween and the coincidence of the professional football, baseball, basketball, and hockey seasons.

Well, it’s even busier in Queens, where food, dance, art, music, history, and a motorcade honoring the Hindu goddess of light coincide.

Oct. 1-7, Sunnyside Restaurant Week. Almost 30 establishments participate in this fifth annual promotion. The deal is a three-course dinner for $25 with many places offering lunch specials and a few offering the $25 dinner for two people. More info at www.sunnysideshines.org.

Oct. 1-Mar. 11, Socrates Annual. This outdoor show displays 15 artists who work in mosaic, cast concrete, glass, and painting. Socrates Sculpture Park, 32-01 Vernon Blvd., LIC, www.socratessculpturepark.org.

Oct. 4, Canta Libre Chamber Ensemble, 12:30 pm. Music for flute, strings, and harp, including Faure’s Pavane, Concert for Five by Joseph Jongen, Suite Breve by Ladislas Rohozinski, and Algues by Bernard Andres. Queensborough Performing Arts Center, 222-05 56th Ave., Bayside, www.cantalibre.org.

Oct. 5-8, Queensboro Dance Festival. Performances by 27 Queens-based cultural and contemporary dance companies representing 12 different neighborhoods, from Astoria to Howard Beach. Each show has a different line-up. Secret Theatre, 44-02 23rd St., LIC, www.queensborodancefestival.com.

Oct. 6, The National, 6:30 pm. This celebrated Indie band will give $1 from every ticket to The Melting Pot Foundation USA, an organization serving residents of Brooklyn’s Brownsville via job training, community organizing resources, and access to delicious, healthy, affordable food. One Tennis Place, Forest Hills Gardens, www.foresthillsstadium.com.

Oct. 6, The Garifuna Collective featuring Umalali, 7 pm. With roots in Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, the Garifuna Collective and Umalali pay tribute to the rich heritage carried forward by Garifuna women. Expect drums, maracas, turtle shells, acoustic and electric guitars, and bass. The group tells its stories through music, dance, and traditional dress. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., www.flushingtownhall.org.

Oct. 6-28, Queens International Night Market. It closed during the U.S. Open and Maker Faire, but it’s back for all Saturdays in October. This market averages 9,000 people each Saturday with a rotating cast of 130 local vendors. New York Hall of Science parking lot, vicinity of 47-01 111th St., Flushing Meadows Corona Park, www.queensnightmarket.com.

Oct. 8, The Sport of Kings in Queens Opening, 2:30 pm. Queens has been a major center of horse racing since 1667, when King Charles II of England established the first race course in his North American Possessions. This exhibit details this history and its cultural, social, and economic dimensions and impact. Queens Historical Society, 143-35 37th Ave., Flushing, www.queenshistoricalsociety.org.

Oct. 14, Diwali Motorcade, 3 pm. Mark this Hindu celebration of Lakshmi, the Goddess of Light, with a parade and cultural show. First, there’s a Hawan religious ceremony at The Arva Spiritual Center Grounds, 104-20 133rd St., Richmond Hill, at 3 pm. Vehicles assemble near Liberty Avenue and 133rd Street at 4:30 pm. Night ends with music, dance, chanting, and plenty of incense at Arya Spiritual Center Grounds, www.diwalimotorcade.com.

Oct. 14, Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, 7:30 pm. Renowned violinist Esther Noh and pianist Jacob Rhodebeck perform new and contemporary works by James Macmillan, Jonathan Harvey, and Michael Finnissy. The program features two US premieres, a violin sonata by Robert Simpson and a composition by Mark Bowden. The Church-in-the-Gardens, 50 Ascan Ave., Forest Hills, www.musicareginae.org.

Oct. 15, Harvest Fest and Pumpkin Patch, 11 am. Live music, bouncy houses, petting zoo, face painting, tours, composting demonstrations, craft and food vendors, beer-and-wine tent, and the ever-popular Pumpkin Patch. Queens Botanical Garden, 43-50 Main St., Flushing, www.queensbotanical.org.

Oct. 15, 123 Andrés, 1 pm and 2:15 pm. Join Latin Grammy-winning Andrés on a cultural journey through Latin America via language, music, and dance. Families sing and dance to rhythms while gaining knowledge of vocabulary in English and Spanish. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., www.flushingtownhall.org.

Oct. 20, If It Ain’t Baroque, Don’t Fix It, 6:30 pm. Queens Consort performs baroque music with baroque instruments at baroque pitch, and in period style. King Manor Museum, Rufus King Park, vicinity of 153rd Street and Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica, www.kingmanor.org.

Oct. 21, Betsayda Machado y La Parranda El Clavo, 7 pm. Betsayda Machado is an icon of African-Venezuelan music and culture. La Parranda El Clavo is her village’s own multi-generational percussion band. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., www.flushingtownhall.org.

Oct. 21, Walking Tour of Corona-East Elmhurst, 11 am. The Corona East Elmhurst Historic Preservation Society leads a leisurely, two-hour stroll focusing on historic houses of worship and the former homes of jazz artists. $19, includes lunch at a popular Corona restaurant. More info at [email protected] and 803-851-5631.

Oct. 28, An Evening with Peter Yarrow, 8 pm. As Peter of Peter, Paul, and Mary, he earned great fame with “Puff the Magic Dragon” and versions of “If I Had a Hammer” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.” A social activist, Yarrow created a nonprofit, Operation Respect, to combat school bullying and offering his audiences inspiring performances that stress our shared humanity. LeFrak Concert Hall, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, www.kupferbergcenter.org.

Oct. 29, Dia de los Muertos, 4 pm. The Queens-based Calpulli Mexican Dance Company takes the audience on a voyage from a festive town in Mexico to Mictlán, the beautiful underworld of Aztec mythology, where La Catrina is the mesmerizing Queen. Queens Theatre, 4 United Nations Ave. S., Flushing Meadows Corona Park, www.queenstheatre.org.

Oct. 29, Inti-Illimani: Celebrating 50 Years of Music, Education and Activism, 3 pm. Inti-Illimani has transcended our idea of the musical ensemble and has become a cultural location, a liturgy expressing the essence of the Latin American ethno-musical experience. LeFrak Concert Hall, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, www.inti-illimani.cl.

For more information, please surf to www.itsinqueens.org.