The canoe livery at Argo already closed for the season.
That is the problem with most Ann Arbor lists: they were written in July and never touched again, so they send you to a rental window that shut on September 14 and a conservatory that changed its hours the week after Labor Day. This is the same short list, but sorted by what is open right now and what closes next. Thirteen places, each with a working link to its listing and hours checked on 16 September 2026, plus the six home football Saturdays that will reshape your parking plan.
Get on the river before October 18
The Huron River is the thing visitors underestimate and locals build whole weekends around. There are two city liveries, and right now only one of them is renting.
Gallup Park Canoe & Kayak Livery at 3000 Fuller Road is the one still open. Flatwater, wide and slow, with islands and footbridges and more geese than you want. Canoes, kayaks, and pedal boats go out from the dock behind the building. The detail that matters: the last river trip leaves at 4pm regardless of closing time, and stillwater and tube rentals stop two hours before the doors do. Show up at 5pm expecting a boat and you will be walking the path instead.
Regular hours: through 18 October, Wed-Fri 11am-7pm and Sat-Sun 10am-7pm, closed Mon-Tue. Last river trip 4pm. Season ends 18 October. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
Argo Cascades at 1055 Longshore Drive is the engineered whitewater run, nine drops through a bypass channel around the dam, and it is the single best thing to do in this city on a hot afternoon. In mid-September it is also the biggest trap in every outdated guide. The Argo livery closed for the season on 14 September and does not reopen until spring, so nobody is renting you a tube here. The park itself is still open and free, the Cascades still run, and the walk along the channel and over to the Border-to-Border trail is worth the trip on its own. If you want to be on the water, drive to Gallup.
Regular hours: park grounds daily sunrise to sunset, free. Argo livery closed for the season since 14 September; rentals move to Gallup. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
Three museums, two of them free
Ann Arbor’s museum answer is unusual: the two big ones cost nothing, and the one you pay for is the one built for kids.
University of Michigan Museum of Art at 525 South State Street is free, always, with no membership ask at the door. The Apse is the room people remember, and the modern wing runs real rotating shows rather than campus filler. It stays open until 8pm four nights a week, which makes it the rare museum you can do after work. Go Thursday evening when it is quietest.
Regular hours: Tue-Wed 11am-5pm, Thu-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat-Sun 11am-8pm, closed Mon. Admission free. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
U-M Museum of Natural History at 1105 North University Avenue is also free, with the mastodons on the fourth floor and a planetarium that charges about $9 a head for weekend shows. One thing no other list will tell you: North University Avenue is closed to through traffic between State Street and Fletcher Street until 25 November 2026 for a water main and resurfacing project, and Thayer Street is reachable from East Washington only. Walking access is maintained, so park downtown and come on foot rather than trying to drive to the door.
Regular hours: 1 September-31 May Tue-Sun 10am-4pm, closed Mon. Museum free, planetarium about $9. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum at 220 East Ann Street is four floors of things children are allowed to break, more or less, and it is the correct call on a cold or rainy Saturday. It shares an organization with the Leslie Science & Nature Center now, so the ticket conversation covers both sites. Admission is paid here, unlike the two above.
Regular hours: Tue-Sun 10am-5pm, closed Mon. Paid admission. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
Kerrytown, on a Wednesday or a Saturday
Ann Arbor Farmers Market at 315 Detroit Street is a producer-only market in its 107th year, which means the person selling you the tomatoes grew them. It runs Wednesdays and Saturdays through December, then drops to Saturdays only from January through April, so the schedule you find in a spring article is not the schedule you get in October. Wednesday is calmer. Saturday is the event. Come before 9am if you want parking and the good pastry.
Regular hours: May-December Wed and Sat 7am-3pm; January-April Sat only 8am-3pm. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
Kerrytown Market & Shops at 407 North Fifth Avenue is the wooden multi-level building next door, and it is where the market morning turns into a full one. Butcher, fish counter, spice shop, a yarn store, a plant store, stairs everywhere. Worth knowing that the aggregator listings for this building are wrong by a couple of hours in both directions – the times below come from Kerrytown’s own site.
Regular hours: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 11am-5pm. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
Two pieces of green that cost nothing
Nichols Arboretum at 1610 Washington Heights is 123 acres running down to the river, and locals just call it the Arb. The main valley is the one everyone photographs. Late September through mid-October is the best three weeks of its year. Free, open dawn to dusk, no gate.
Regular hours: daily sunrise to sunset. Admission free. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
Matthaei Botanical Gardens at 1800 North Dixboro Road is the Arb’s larger sibling out past US-23: prairie, bog trails, and a glass conservatory with a desert room that is a genuinely good place to be in February. The conservatory switched off its summer schedule the week after Labor Day, so the long 8pm evenings are gone until next year except on Wednesdays.
Regular hours: grounds daily sunrise to sunset; conservatory Wed 10am-8pm, Tue and Thu-Sun 10am-4:30pm, closed Mon. Admission free. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
What to do after dark
Michigan Theater at 603 East Liberty Street is a restored 1928 movie palace with a Barton pipe organ that still gets played before shows, and it seats over 1,700. It runs first-run and repertory film alongside live events, and it is operated by the nonprofit Marquee Arts, the organization that also runs the State. Doors open 30 minutes before showtime.
Regular hours: theaters open 30 minutes before showtime; afternoon screenings from about 4pm, evening shows from about 7pm. Box office line Mon-Fri 9am-5pm. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
The State Theatre at 233 South State Street is the Art Deco one with the green, yellow and red marquee, four screens now tucked into what was a 1,900-seat balcony. Same operator, different mood: this is the campus-side room for an indie film on a weeknight.
Regular hours: first screenings Mon-Fri from about 4pm, Sat from about noon; Sunday varies by the film schedule. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
The Ark at 316 South Main Street puts on more than 300 shows a year in a 400-seat room with no bad sightline, mostly folk and roots and singer-songwriters who could fill somewhere four times the size. It does not keep store hours – it opens when there is a show, doors about an hour before.
Regular hours: show nights only, doors roughly an hour before the set; typical windows Mon-Sat 7:30pm-11pm and Sun 7pm-10:30pm. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
Pinball Pete’s is the basement arcade generations of students remember, and it has moved: it now runs at 500 East Liberty Street, not the old 1214 South University address that most listings still carry. Rows of real pinball, quarters, no pretense. It keeps the latest hours of anything on this page.
Regular hours: daily 11am-2am at 500 E Liberty St. Verified 16 Sep 2026.
The six Saturdays that change the whole plan
Michigan has eight home football games in 2026 and six of them are still ahead: 19 September against UTEP, 26 September against Iowa, 17 October against Penn State, 24 October against Indiana, 7 November against Michigan State, and 21 November against UCLA.
On those days downtown parking fills by mid-morning, restaurants near campus run a different clock, and the Arb and the river are the calmest places in the city. Plan around them rather than into them, or lean in and read the where to eat before a Michigan game guide.
Everything above was checked on 16 September 2026, but seasons move fast here: the Gallup livery closes 18 October, the market drops to Saturdays in January, and the Matthaei conservatory is already on its winter schedule. Call ahead for anything that matters. If you want to go deeper on one thread, start with the museums and galleries guide, the farmers market guide, or the parks guide. Hungry instead? The best restaurants in Ann Arbor is the place to start.
