What to Do Labor Day Weekend

1. Go to the drive-in.

Motion pictures have all the time been escapist: In the course of the Nice Despair, audiences flocked to cinemas in an try and neglect their worries, at the least for some time. At the moment, because the pandemic continues, drive-in theaters have been popping up throughout. In Astoria, Queens, the Bel Aire Diner began one in its parking zone, whereas Walmart has turned parking heaps at 160 of its Supercenter areas into out of doors film theaters with free showings through Oct. 21.

Many drive-ins have created new guidelines for this season. The Family Drive-In Theater in Stephens Metropolis, Va., caps its capability at 50 p.c, and areas at Walmart’s exhibits should be reserved prematurely. You’ll probably should socially distance on the concession stand.

However even with new guidelines in place, a night on the drive-in seems like a standard summer season exercise. Folks unfold out, have picnics, sit of their open S.U.V. trunks (or truck beds) sipping a beverage and even play a sport of cornhole. Everyone seems to be six ft aside, however it’s nonetheless a communal expertise — a rarity proper now. And as a bonus on Labor Day weekend, some theaters are even displaying a brand new launch: “Unhinged,” with Russell Crowe. The web site www.driveinmovie.com is an efficient place to begin to discover a location close to you. JUSTIN REDMAN

2. Lower your personal bouquet.

With large-scale weddings and occasions canceled for the foreseeable future, many flower farmers throughout the nation have opened their fields for the primary time to individuals who wish to lower their very own blossoms. Within the spring, Lynne Vinkovic of Rose Lane Farms in Los Angeles, who often gives flowers to florists and occasion designers, started receiving calls from her social media followers asking if they might come to the farm and seize a handful of backyard roses. Earlier than she knew it, she had transitioned to a “you chop” farm. “We’re a working farm, simply over an acre, with 2,000 rose bushes,” Ms. Vinkovic stated. “We’re not picture- excellent, however at this second we provide an escape.”

This weekend, guests can take pleasure in clipping their very own bouquets filled with fall favorites corresponding to zinnias, sunflowers, celosia, phlox and marigolds. On the Farmer’s Daughter garden center in South Kingston, R.I., you-cut dahlia fields — think about an countless sea of blooms starting from wealthy burgundy and brilliant crimson to heat coral and golden champagne — attain their bountiful peak in late September, and can stay open to guests till the primary frost. Most farms require masks and social distancing, and supply sanitized clippers and buckets. Native farmers’ market networks are place to begin when looking for a you-cut discipline close to you. CHRISTINE CHITNIS

3. Lease a yard pool.

If the considered going a complete summer season with out taking a dip in a pool is including to your pandemic malaise, there may be nonetheless hope.

An app referred to as Swimply permits you to e book a non-public pool at somebody’s residence for an hour or extra. You don’t have to fret about mingling with crowds and exposing your loved ones to the coronavirus. Depart your masks in your seaside bag. For one wonderful afternoon, cool off and take a break from worrying about whether or not colleges will reopen.

The service is surprisingly easy. You enter your ZIP code and scroll by a listing of tantalizing swimming pools — some characteristic lounge chairs and basketball hoops — throughout the nation. You’ll be able to search a particular date and time, or request facilities like a sizzling tub. A rental within the suburbs of New York Metropolis can value from $30 to $120 an hour — a splurge for a lot of households, however value it for some who’ve been caught indoors for months.

The corporate says it has added security precautions, together with limiting the variety of swimmers for every rental and leaving an hour hole between bookings so the proprietor has time to wash earlier than the following swimmers arrive.

The casual directions for entry generally is a bit unnerving. “Go across the entrance of the home. Pool is up the steps out again,” learn one itemizing within the Poconos. And relying on the placement of your house base, there may not be a ton of stock so that you might need to take a little bit of a drive.

However at a time once we are all fearful about getting near strangers, the proprietor stays inside and allows you to take pleasure in their pool. You’ll be able to textual content over the app you probably have any questions. EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS

4. Go to an out of doors brewery.

As a substitute of sipping I.P.A.s at residence, quench your thirst on the supply. Many breweries are revamping out of doors area for socially distant ingesting, putting in sanitizer stations and incorporating new protocols to place you comfy whereas hoisting pints.

Consuming beer at a brewery can “remind you of a time when issues had been regular,” stated Chris O’Leary, a beer aficionado who has visited greater than 2,000 breweries and runs Brew York, a information to beer in New York Metropolis.

Plan forward, as many breweries now have restricted capability and require reservations. Additionally examine the web site for up to date rules; for instance, youngsters might now not be allowed. Anticipate to put on a masks everytime you’re not seated and to pay with bank cards. Many breweries even have prospects order by their telephones. As a substitute of glassware, you’ll most likely drink pilsners from a disposable plastic cup and bus your desk to reduce contact.

Observe the principles and also you’ll take pleasure in recent air and beer at Highland Brewing, in Asheville, N.C., the place the 40-acre property incorporates a grassy meadow. In New York’s Hudson Valley, sunflowers bloom at Arrowood Farm Brewery, and its low-alcohol Porch Beer incorporates homegrown hops. Jester King Brewery, in Austin, Texas, is now a 165-acre nature protect providing farmhouse ales beside a goat barn.

Security and hospitality are actually key elements at breweries. “They’re making an attempt tougher than ever to win over their prospects,” Mr. O’Leary stated. JOSHUA M. BERNSTEIN

5. Trip an electrical bike.

Generally, to get out of a rut, you want a bit push.

Biking is a good mode of socially distant journey, however using a motorcycle will be tiring and restrict you to your personal neighborhood. An electrical bike helps you to journey a lot farther — and simply sort out one of many nastiest phrases in biking: hills.

And so they’re a blast to experience. Hopping on one seems like taking your coaching wheels off for the primary time, besides that invisible push by a guardian comes from a motor that powers the wheels.

E-bikes usually high out at round 20 miles an hour, relying on the kind of bike, they usually can often run for about 40 miles on one cost. They are often rented from many bike rental retailers and are a part of many cities’ experience share packages. Lyft, which operates the most important bikeshare program within the nation, has e-bikes in New York Metropolis, Chicago, Minneapolis and the Bay Space. Whereas the corporate said it sanitizes high-contact surfaces throughout common upkeep, you can go one step additional and use your personal wipes to wash off the handlebars.

Pedego, a sequence of 140 independently owned native electric-bike retailers in america and Canada, is requiring masks indoors and sterilizing bikes. Some areas are renting bikes by appointment solely to facilitate social distancing. Or you’ll be able to name your native bike store to ask about e-bike availability and study their insurance policies earlier than you arrive.

Make sure that to comply with security guidelines (helmets!), and bear in mind that e-bike rules differ between states; for extra details about native legal guidelines, go to peopleforbikes.org. JONATHAN WOLFE

6. Float down a river.

In case you can’t discover a pool and are bored with operating by your sprinkler to chill down, why not spend the day on the water, stress-free on a raft or an inner-tube? Tubing is a refreshing approach to spend a lazy day outdoor with a number of buddies or household whereas maintaining socially distanced from others.

Journeys usually vary from three hours to all day, relying on the route and what number of stops you make. Corporations typically offer you a alternative of renting a tube, raft, kayak or canoe, however examine beforehand to see what your choices are, what tools will probably be offered and if there are restrictions on alcohol and coolers. With rafting outfits all throughout the nation — from the Delaware River on the East Coast, the Current River in Missouri and the Snoqualmie River in Washington — nice floating choices can be found in most areas. Looking on-line by location is an efficient place to start out.

Today, many tubing corporations have taken further well being and security precautions, like sanitizing tubes and life vests between makes use of, requiring masks whereas prospects wait in line and never filling shuttles to capability. You’ll be able to typically discover what corporations are doing to maintain the exercise protected on their web site. Make sure to pack a lunch and a few chilly drinks, however as soon as you’re on the water, simply take pleasure in. Take a break every so often to do some swimming. And cease midway by the float to have your picnic on the facet of the river. You’ve earned it. CHRISTY HARMON

7. Eat at a pizza farm.

One type of enterprise is having a banner summer season, although it’s possible you’ll not have heard of it: the pizza farm. Already in style within the Higher Midwest, farms that serve wood-fired pizza topped with homegrown produce are open on summer season evenings throughout the nation.

In case you’re craving a picnic, however bored with cooking, a go to to a pizza farm can scratch that itch. At some locations, the pizza is fundamental — handfuls of cherry tomatoes and mozzarella, with perhaps a number of leaves of basil from the herb backyard. However most farms like to point out off (and expend) their produce, so the toppings can embody caramelized onions, recent zucchini, roasted squash and the like.

And as you’re sitting in your blanket within the fields, watching the solar set over the tomato vegetation and listening to the cows, you may discover that the pizza farm is sending you a message: Keep in mind how your meals is produced, and assist the native farmers who do it. Pizza is a good educating software as a result of even a farmer working simply an acre or two can produce all of the elements: wheat for the dough, tomatoes and herbs for the sauce, cows for the cheese — and even pigs, for sausage and pepperoni.

This yr, the picnic blankets are socially distanced, and masks and reservations are usually required. For optimum enjoyment, convey a blanket and camp chairs, and your personal drinks, plates, cups, paper towels and bug spray.

There’s no complete database, however the Last Night’s Pizza Box web site has about 50 farms listed. A Fb or Google search helps. JULIA MOSKIN