NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� It is a city bathed in the orange-and-blue , gushing with the joy of World Cup fans , enjoying a singular confetti-raining, fireworks-bursting, parade-rolling, smile-inducing moment that seems to make this place feel even more like the center of the universe it has always claimed to be.
So if a certain , at this moment, for her vows, could anywhere be more fitting?
鈥淭his city has always known how to celebrate big moments. But this summer, so many of them have collided at once,鈥� says Rabbi Yael Buechler, 40, of the Riverdale section of the Bronx, who is preparing a 鈥淪wiftie Shabbat鈥� this weekend with friendship bracelet cookies and a bedazzled challah bread she says is inspired by her 鈥淐huppah Era.鈥� 鈥淲hen I look back on the summer of 2026, I won鈥檛 remember just one event. I鈥檒l remember a season when New York felt united in celebration.鈥�
New York is always a city whose seduction battles its struggles, where the thrill of finding a subway car with an open seat meets the realization that it鈥檚 empty because its lone passenger is hurling trash across it. The schlepping, the waiting on line, the $9 boxes of cereal and $32 burgers and microscopic apartments with titanic rents, the sidewalk mounds of trash, the gutted rat you nearly step onto in the street. All of it can congeal into too much, separating New Yorkers for a season from New Yorkers for life.
But then there are those days when the streets are a storybook, with all the eclectic, utopian splendor Richard Scarry could muster, where you step out of an impossibly tiny, immeasurably cute cheese shop to find an impromptu classical concert on a front stoop. Neighbors exchange knowing looks at whatever absurdity unfolds before them, parks unfurl like paintings, a kaleidoscope of humanity seems in sync, lights twinkle, dumplings are cheap, pizza is perfect, bagels are fresh from the oven, dreams are all fulfilled.
Optimism emerges for summer in the city
In the battle between the slog of metropolitan life and its many daily gifts, some felt the recent arrival of a thumb on the scale.
The city鈥檚 trademark cynicism faded a bit. And in a place where celebrity passersby and visiting monarchs typically get the same collective shrug, a certain exuberance appeared. The beaming young mayor, fresh off an announcement that a swath of New York鈥檚 tenants would see no rent hike, was even found jumping into a city pool in a suit and tie.
This town has known seasons of many stripes, from that autumn of grief after 9/11 to that spring of solitude and trepidation as COVID-19 first emerged. They always pass. The city moves forward. But however long this Summer of New York stretches and the city pulsates with positivity, locals are relishing it.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to feel alone in the big city, but we all feel a bit closer right now,鈥� says Dallas Short, a 38-year-old publicist who lives in the Two Bridges neighborhood of Manhattan. 鈥淎nything seems possible and attainable right now.鈥�
More than anything, the Knicks鈥� fantastic run fueled today鈥檚 New York temperament, with its underdogs-coming-out-swinging, constantly-rallying-from-behind, Jalen Brunson , OG Anunoby , and millions of onlookers unsure of what they just witnessed as they slid into a warm bath of delight.
Spike Lee, a sideline fixture for decades and quintessential New Yorker, captured the city’s darker side with his film 鈥淪ummer of Sam,鈥� set in the city’s long-remembered summer of 1977. This year, he oozed joy even before victory was sealed.
鈥淭his is truly Fun City,鈥� he proclaimed in The New York Times, 鈥渂orn again!鈥�
Then there were those soccer games
Before the thrill of that even wore away, the world鈥檚 soccer fans descended, and points across the city into . In a city whose most iconic statue is a testament to its openness to newcomers, teams from Cape Verde to Paraguay to Congo found local fans and international visitors found compatriots.
鈥淭here is electricity in the air,鈥� says Steven Gottlieb, a real estate agent and born-and-bred New Yorker who lives in the Flatiron neighborhood of Manhattan. 鈥淢any of us have a love-hate relationship with New York City, but there鈥檚 a lot to love right now.鈥�
Which brings us to none other than Taylor Swift.
After moving here over a decade ago, she penned 鈥淲elcome to New York,鈥� which called the city a 鈥渢rue love鈥� and portrayed it as an 鈥渆ver-changing,鈥� 鈥渄rives you crazy,鈥� 鈥渒eeps you guessing鈥� paramour.
Asked about her new home at the time, she told Rolling Stone, 鈥淚n terms of being happy, I鈥檝e never been closer.鈥�
Swift at Madison Square Garden in Game Four of the Knicks鈥� run. And if rumors and reports bear out, she鈥檒l return to the arena this week to celebrate a marriage to football player Travis Kelce. It would arrive on a week capped by all the revelry the city can serve up for the 250th anniversary of the country鈥檚 independence, in a fireworks-blasting, tall ships-sailing spectacle.
In this city scarred by terror, darkened by blackout and flooded by storm, no New Yorker would be so na茂ve as to think it all will last. The rents will rise. The kvetching will return. The smells and the crowds will again grow too much.
Let it be remembered, though: For a blissful moment in the summer of 2026, joy reigned here.
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This story has been updated to correct the part of the Bronx where Rabbi Yael Buechler is from. Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and
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