• Visit New York City in July.new-york image by Christophe Schmid from Fotolia.com
  
  With an average temperature of 85 degrees and a hoard of summer vacationers, New York City hosts plenty of events to attend during July. While there are numerous locations to celebrate Independence Day in the Big Apple, July also offers lesser-known celebrations for tourists and residents to attend.
  
  

Lincoln Center Festival

• Celebrate the arts with one of the world's most renowned performing arts centers. The Lincoln Center Festival, held annually throughout most of July, features 10 premieres and debuts with 45 performances during the festival 18-day run. Performances take place at seven venues, both on and off Lincoln Center's property.
  
  The festival features performances from around the globe, with theater productions from Japan, Russia and The Netherlands on schedule for 2010. While many of the productions are performed in a foreign language, English subtitles make it easy for the audience to understand. In addition to theater, international musicians, dancers and choreographers perform at the festival.
  
  Lincoln Center Festival
  Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
  70 Lincoln Center Plaza
  New York, NY 10023
  212-875-5456
  lincolncenter.org
  
  

Restaurant Week

• New York City Restaurant Week can be a food lover's dream, when the city's top restaurants offer prix fixe meals (not including tax, drinks or tip) for much less than they would normally cost. Despite the event's name, Restaurant Week actually runs for two weeks.
  
  Frommer's Travel Guide recommends making reservations as far in advance as possible--reservations can be made one month ahead of the dining date--especially at the city's most popular restaurants. Participating restaurants in the winter Restaurant Week included the Russian Tea Room, Michael Jordan's The Steak House N.Y.C. and Blue Water Grill.
  
  New York Summer Restaurant Week
  nycgo.com/restaurantweek
  
  

52nd Street Assocation Jazz Festival

• You might be in New York City, but the Jazz Festival could have you thinking you've traveled to New Orleans. Held at the end of July, the festival recreates Bourbon Street and celebrates the birth of jazz. Highlights include more than 400 vendors, including foods, crafts and antiques, as well as plenty of live jazz musicians performing on five stages. Estimated attendance to the free festival is more than 80,000 people
  
  52nd Street Association Jazz Festival
  52nd Street from Lexington to Seventh Avenue
  New York, NY 10022
  212-809-4900
  
  

Bryant Park Summer Film Festival

• Bring a blanket and spread out on the lawn at Bryant Park for its Summer Film Festival. Each Monday from July through August, a classic movie is shown on an oversized screen in the park. If it rains, the movie is shown on Tuesday instead.
  
  Previous films shown include "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Harold and Maude." These movies are so popular that close to 10,000 people attend each screening, according to Frommer's Travel Guide.
  
  Bryant Park Summer Film Festival
  Bryant Park
  Sixth Avenue, between 40th and 42nd streets
  New York, NY 10018
  bryantpark.org