Cheap$kate: FREE events in NYC this weekend

National Hamantaschen Eating Championship
This Sunday, show off your eating chops and stuff your face with hamantaschen - triangle-shaped pastries with jam filling - in celebration of Purim. Israel's El Al Airlines is hosting its second National Hamantaschen Eating Championship, offering a chance to snag a FREE round-trip flight to Tel Aviv. Run by All Pro Eating, the event also will feature competitive eater Jamie "The Bear" McDonald, who will try to beat last year's record of 25 hamantaschen in five minutes. (Sunday,1 p.m., FREE, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun synagogue, 114 E. 85th St., competitiveeaters.com/events.html)

Art

Fantastical Botanical live ice sculpture carving
Brave the cold at this FREE ice sculpture carving at World Financial Center Thursday night and Friday. Look on as master ice sculptors from NYC artist collective Okamoto Studio chip away to create "Fantastical Botanical" - icy flora and fauna including a 6-foot tree, real flowers blooming inside a tower of ice, a family of deer and more. (Thursday, 5-7 p.m. & Friday, noon-1 p.m., FREE, Brookfield Place World Financial Center Plaza, 220 Vesey St., worldfinancialcenter.com/okamotostudio)