Care to play some tennis?

     Ten courts next to the Hudson River provide a bucolic setting for summer matches.

     First, you’ll need a tennis permit from the City Parks. Full-season permits for adults ages 18 to 61 cost $100. Adults with a valid IDNYC card can receive 10 percent off their full-season permit fee.

     Permits for seniors ages 62 and older cost $20. Permits for kids and teens younger than 18 years old cost $10.

     The Lower WaHi courts are in Fort Washington Park around 170th Street. In Inwood Hill park, you’ll find nine courts near Sherman Avenue and 207th Street; these are considered accessible.

     With the Fort Washington branch of the NYPL closed for renovations, the library’s bookmobile provides access to the its riches.

     At the bookmobile you can sign up for a library card, browse a small collection of books for people of all ages, speak with a librarian to get reading recommendations, reference services, and return and renew books.

     What’s more, the bookmobile is proof that reading takes you places!

     Mondays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. near the YM & YWHA in Fort George at 54 Nagle Avenue. Also in Hudson Heights on Wednesdays. The Fort Washington branch was expected to reopen last summer and is now set to reopen this summer, though budget cuts may imperil that plan.

     Craft the world of a novel on a single page — yes, you can do it! Welcome to the place where less is more. We’ll look at the shortest stories from around the world, and explore the limitless possibilities of micro-fiction.

     The workshop from Uptown Stories is open to young authors from 10 to 14 years old.

     $800 or pay what you can. Monday afternoons from 4 to 6 at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. Through May 25.

     Get ready to run faster and jump higher, one frame at a time.

     Take your stories and transforming them into comics in this Uptown Stories workshop for creative kids ages 10 to 14.

     You’ll imagine an ordinary day (or the wildest story you can come up with) and use comic-book language, illustration, and frames to share with everyone the next super-adventure.

     You don’t need to be an artist to join us – just share your best ideas. In the two-hour sessions you’ll learn all the steps to comics illustration and development, including pin-ups, single-frame and multi-frame pages, using pencils, pens, paints, crayons, or other art materials.

     $800 or pay what you can. Monday afternoons at 4:15 at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. Through May 20. The summer session runs Monday through Friday, August 26 through 30, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

     Look, listen, sing, and have fun with storytime at the Met cloisters. The museum and Literacy INC shares tales through picture-book readings in English and Spanish connected to objects in the  Cloisters’ collection.

     Recommended for families with children ages 18 months to 6 years. Participants will receive a free book with onsite registration.

     Space is limited; first come, first served.
     Free with Museum admission; admission is pay as you wish for New York state residents, and free for children under 12 with an adult. Tuesday mornings at 11:30 at the museum in Fort Tryon Park.

     Help celebrate the last month of spring with a concert featuring choral music by local and living composers.

     The Washington Heights Choir is a community chorus, one of a handful in town and the only choir of its kind in Uptown. It includes a school for student singers, who will join the rest of the choir in this performance, which includes music by Micah Young, Emma Louise Ashford, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and more.

     Free. Tuesday evening, May 14, at 7 at Fort Washington Collegiate Church in Hudson Heights on 181st Street at Col. Robt. McGaw Place.

     With the Fort Washington branch of the NYPL closed for renovations until summer 2024, the library’s bookmobile provides access to the its riches.

     At the bookmobile you can sign up for a library card, browse a small collection of books for people of all ages, speak with a librarian to get reading recommendations, reference services, and return and renew books.

     What’s more, the bookmobile is proof that reading takes you places!

     Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. near the Moriah Center in Hudson Heights at 90 Bennett Avenue. Also in Fort George on Mondays.

     If you can’t wait to turn the page, the writer has succeeded in telling you a great story. What does it take to develop characters, settings, dialogue, and plot elements that have you on the edge of your seat?

     This Uptown Stories workshop answers those questions and more. You’ll break down the parts of fiction writing each week and test out what you’ve learned with some on-the-spot writing.

     You’ll work with your peers, too–giving advice and feedback, while hearing what they have to say about your work. Not only does this workshop make you a better writer, but when you understand the process, it makes you appreciate your favorite writers even more.

     For writers ages 8 through 12.

     $800 or pay what you can. Wednesday afternoons from 3:30 to 5:30 at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. Through May 22. The summer session runs Monday through Friday, July 29 through August 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

     Two Puerto Rican musicians, soprano Carmen Cancél and singer and percussionist Jainardo Batista, join forces with Leadlights Ensemble for an eclectic set of musical crowd-pleasers.

     Little ones will enjoy an interactive story featuring Margarita Engle’s A Song of Frutas, with musical accompaniment by Leadlights. Free copies of the book will be available, and gifts and giveaways from local business will be raffled.  

     Free. Wednesday evening at 5 at Word Up Community Bookshop in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street

     There’s always more to learn, fiction writers! Build on the skills you already have and dig deeper into the qualities that give all the best stories that extra pop.

     Whichever genre of fiction you prefer (historical, fantasy, realistic, etc.) is welcome. You’ll focus on the fine details that will take your writing from good to great: natural, character-driven dialogue; proper pacing; inciting incidents; raising the stakes; plot-twists; and, of course, the art of the satisfying ending.

     You’ll also rely on your favorite fiction writers for inspiration, and discover new works worthy of your attention.

     This workshop is for students who are familiar with the basics of fiction writing, and who would like to grow as writers. For ages 12 through 16.

     $800 or pay what you can. Wednesday evenings from 5:45 to 7:45 starting at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. Through May 22. The summer session runs Monday through Friday, August 5 through 9, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

     Help your preschooler develop listening, language, and literacy skills every week in a private garden open to everyone.

     Librarians from the Inwood branch of the NYPL, along with volunteers from Literacy in Community, read books and lead songs and dances. The programs are in English and Spanish. Toddlers build connections to the neighborhood as they explore the garden’s goldfish pond and flora.

     Free. Thursday mornings at 11 in the Riverside-Inwood Neighborhood Garden at the confluence in Broadway, Riverside Drive, and Dyckman Street. Through October.

     Tired of being inside? Do you want to be wild and break out of the limitations that are always being set?

     Poetry is the answer.

     Strap on your shoes, grab your pen, and meet at the P.S. 187 school yard to go on a poet’s adventure.

     Poetry is a way of seeing things outside the boxes they are always being put in. You’ll be rejuvenated by the nature of Fort Tryon park and emboldened by our resilient neighborhood. You’ll explore the wilds of language out in the world, allowing a stream of poetry to flow from the river of possibility.

     For ages 8 to 13.

     $800 or pay what you can. Thursday afternoons from 4 to 6 at P.S. 187 Hudson Cliffs in Hudson Heights on Cabrini Boulevard just above 181st Street. Through May 23.

     With the Lions’ baseball team winning their sixteenth conference title, Columbia hosts the Ivy League championship series this year.

     All eight teams play on opening day and are winnowed until the final on Monday.

     Friday through Monday, May 20, on Satow Field at the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood on 218th Street.

     Lace up your skates for a fun event outdoors when you and your family dance and enjoy an  roller-skating event with music, jumbo games, and much more.

     4 to 5:30 Family skate

     6 to 7 Adult skate

     Free. Friday at the Anne Loftus Playground in Fort Tryon Park in Inwood.

     $800 or pay what you can. Saturdays from 11 to 1 starting at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. Through June 8.

     Lo’Mas Lit Book Club is back! 

     Join Uptown readers and the two moderators, Memphis W. and Lenny D., to dive into new books, discuss diverse themes with peers, and other activities. 

     The book club is a reading group, a discussion zone, and a hangout space for readers ages 13–20. Now in its fifth year, the club has brought together teens from across Uptown   and from around the country. Avid readers who are looking to connect with others to dicuss novels, poetry, and graphic novels will get the most from the group.

     The spring edition of the club meets for an hour. Register here.

     Free. Saturday mornings at 11 at Word Up Community Bookshop in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street. Through June 15.

     Welcome you to Snobby Poetry, should you be up for the challenge.

     You’ll find a band of self-motivated, uber-supportive misfits who read, write, and share poems. They love words, rhyme (only when used sparely, thank you), observation, and Walt Whitman (obviously).

     Poetry is an illogical measuring device, filled with seemingly impossible comparisons and instructions; that is why they are called to write it. These are the liars who tell the truth.

     If this sounds like you, or if you’ve already taken a class with Jane LeCroy and want more, Snobby Poetry is your workshop. For ages 14 to 16.

     $800 or pay what you can. Saturday afternoons from 1 to 3 at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. Through June 8.

     Take part in the launch of the coloring book Birds and Trees of Fort Tryon Park, developed by the author Leslie Day and the artist Trudy Smoke.

     You can also enjoy a tour of the trees illustrated in the book, learn about the research and artistic processes, and try your hand at nature drawing surrounded by the beauty of the Heather Garden.

     Take your crayons: All participants will receive a free copy of the coloring book. Everyone is welcome.

     Free. Sunday afternoon from 2 to 3:30 in the Heather Garden near Margaret Corbin Plaza in Hudson Heights.

     Where are you going?

     Use a compass rose to help you get there. A video from the Hispanic Society will show you how to make one with a potato, some paint and a few more household objects.

     You’ll also learn a bit about maps through the centuries and how explorers used them to travel to places they’d never seen.

     Here’s a way to make your next outing with the kids a little different.

     Print out a family scavenger hunt booklet and take a walk through Fort Tryon Park’s historic estate remnants.

     Find, draw, and map natural marvels and constructed treasures while you explore the path network that leads from Billings Lawn to the Palisades Overlook.

     The booklet is provided by the Fort Tryon Park Trust.

     Need something new for the kids to do?

     The Hispanic Society of America offers several coloring pages, each based on one of the most famous paintings in the museum’s collection. Recognize the Duchess of Alba? Download the pdf below.

      And here’s a recap of the Society’s summer camp for kids.

      For adults, the society has posted several lectures here.

¿Necesita algo nuevo para que hagan los niños?
      La Hispanic Society of America ofrece varias páginas para colorear, cada una basada en una de las pinturas más famosas de la colección del museo. ¿Reconoces a la duquesa de Alba? Descargue el pdf a continuación.
       Para los adultos, la sociedad ha publicado varias conferencias aquí.

     Colonial Crossroads is a family-friendly interpretation of African and European traditions and instruments that influenced each other during the Colonial period.

     In this Pinkster celebration, you’re encouraged to participate in call-and-response and body percussion techniques. You’ll be led by a musician who uses baroque guitar, mandolin, mountain dulcimer and recorders to perform European music from eighteenth century, and another musician who represents the African side of Colonial America through stories and songs performed on shekere and djembe.

     Free. Tuesday evening, May 21, at 6 at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street.

     Marking the seventeenth-century commemoration of the seventh week after Pentecost, Pinkster was the first African-American holiday, dating to around 1790–1810.

     This year Pinkster is celebrated a week after Pentecost and features the Pinkster Stroll. A group of Black New Yorkers dressed in historically inspired garb walk from Inwood to the Upper West Side to honor enslaved and free Black people in Dutch New York.

     Send them off on their long walk and discover how the Christian feast of Pentecost evolved into a Black American festival when family and friends and reconnect with their African cultures.

     Free. Saturday morning, May 25, at 10 at the Dyckman Farmhouse in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street. The stroll proceeds to the New-York Historical Society on Central Park West at 77th Street.

     Sketch from works of art in The Met Cloisters galleries and experiment with different drawing approaches. Build your skills with a teaching artist and share your works of art with other teens.

     Thinking of applying to an art high school or college? These classes are a great way to build a portfolio.

     Museum admission is free, with registration, for teens as part of this program. All experience levels welcome; all materials provided.

     Free with registration. Saturday, May 25, at noon in Fort Tryon Park. On the last Saturday of the month.

     The grand tour was a continental journey of aristocratic children (and their chaperones) to the cultural capitals of Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

     Visit an eighteenth-century estate to take a vicarious tour with the New York Baroque Dance Company and experience a music and dance program that transports you to eighteenth-century England, France and Spain. The guides are dancers Julia Bengtsson and Patrick Pride and the musicians Paul Shipper, Jason Priset and Dongmyung Ahn.

     The setting is a colonial Dutch farmhouse. More than a performance, the event offers you the chance to dance yourself.

     Free. Wednesday evening, May 29, at 6:30 at the Dyckman Farmhouse in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street.

     Join this year’s Hike the Heights, an annual celebration of Uptown parks.

     You’re invited to explore the area’s natural treasures by combining physical activity, art, and activities on the Giraffe Path, a trail that connects the Cloisters to Central Park through the cliffside parks of northern Manhattan. Shaped like a giraffe, the trail is formed by connecting paths in Fort Tryon Park, Highbridge Park, Jackie Robinson Park, St. Nicholas Park, Morningside Park, and Central Park. The trail can be hiked in sections or for the entire 6 miles and can be accessed year round.

     Saturday morning, June 1 (it’s National Trails Day), at 9:30 in Inwood Hill Park at the flag pole near Seaman Avenue and Isham Street.

     Share ideas and enjoy hands-on gallery activities that bring medieval works of art to life in this activity for families.

     Recommended for children ages 3 to 11 years. Note: Space is limited; first come, first served.

     Free with Museum admission; admission is free for children under 12 with an adult. Saturday afternoon, June 1, at 1 at the Cloisters museum in Fort Tryon Park. On the first Saturday of the month.

     The annual Drums Along the Hudson began in 2002 as a traditional Pow Wow to celebrate Native American heritage and culture, and also to commemorate the Lenape people who first inhabited Inwood Hill Park, or Shorakkopoch (“edge of the water”).

     The twenty-first anniversary event featured Mohawk Elder Tom Porter, the Thunderbird American Indian dancers, Sri Lankan dancers and drummers.
     The event has attracted a growing audience, numbering from 400 in the first year to over 8,000 in pre-Covid years.
     Free. Sunday, June 2, from 11 to 6 in Inwood Hill Park at Indian Road and 218th Street.

     Explore the scent-sational smells of medieval herbs and plants in the gardens at the Cloisters at the annual garden festival. Enjoy tours, performances, art making, and more, all with an olfactory twist.

     For garden enthusiasts and curious visitors of all ages.

     Select activities offered in Spanish. Note: Space is limited; first come, first served.

     Free with museum admission. Saturday, June 8, from 9 to 3 at the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

     Let your kids explore life in colonial New York at Manhattan’s oldest remaining house, where the Morris-Jumel Mansion offers family-day programming with a fun, hands-on activity for children and their care-givers.

     All materials will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Masks are not required outdoors; masks are optional inside the Museum.

     Free. Saturday afternoon, June 8, from 1 to 3 at the mansion on Jumel Terrace in Lower WaHi. On the second Saturday of the month.

    Do some digging, then get in some riding with your BMX buds and ride the most progressive urban bike park in America, with the help of the New York City Mountain Bike Association.

     There will be light trail maintenance tasks for all ages in the morning. Every volunteer receives a free 20-minute clinic and, in the afternoon, a guided ride throughout the trails from 12:30 to 3. Even better, bikes and helmets are provided, so you don’t need your own.  

     Uptown is the home of the city's first mountain biking course, 3 miles of trails of varying difficulty and a free-ride trail that includes drops, steeps, and berms. The park also features a dirt jump park and pump track, making it a good place to develop different skills at all levels.

     Free. Saturday morning, June 8, from 10 to 3 in Fort George at the BMX trailhead in Highbridge Park, on Fort George Avenue, just northwest of the Buczek Ballfield. Monthly on the second Saturday.

    Run down memory lane at Sonic speed! The Sonic Symphony celebrates more than three decades of music from SEGA’s mascot.

     From the classic 8-bit and 16-bit tunes to rock bands and EDM, the concert will take you on a musical journey through the colorful world of Sonic the Hedgehog, performed by a symphony orchestra and rock band.

     To accommodate demand, there’s now a matinée performance too.

     $72.36 to $142.56 (includes fees and surcharges). Saturday, June 8, at 3:30 and 8 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     The twentieth season of the Scandinavian Music Festival presents three outdoor spring concerts performed by musicians of the Scandia Symphony showcasing the musical treasures and cultural heritage of Scandinavia.

     The first week is family friendly, with popular folk tunes and brass quintets from all of the Scandinavian countries. (Can you name them?)

     Free. Sunday afternoon, June 9, at 2 on the Billings Lawn in Fort Tryon Park.

     Hip hop artist Randy Mason and keyboardist Jamell Ogbanna join Leadlights Ensemble for an afternoon of hip hop, rhyme, and string music.

     Little ones will enjoy a rhythmically interactive story featuring Brian Pinkney’s Max Found Two Sticks, with musical accompaniment by Leadlights. Free copies of the book will be available, and gifts and giveaways from local business will be raffled.  

     Free. Friday evening, June 14, at 5 at Word Up Community Bookshop in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street.

    Limited to 20 students per week. More than one child? There’s a discount for your family. Scholarships are available too.

     Peek at technique and learn—through handling tools and materials—how medieval works of art were created.

     Stop by for hands-on demonstrations and conversations with educators, conservators and artists as you discover how illuminated manuscripts were made.

     Demonstrations repeat every 30 minutes. For visitors of all ages. 

     Free with museum admission. Sunday, July 21, from noon to 3 in the Cuxa Cloister of the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

     Delve into the history of butter-making during the colonial period.

     You’ll step back in time to discover the traditional methods and techniques used to produce this essential staple, learning about the process from churning cream to separating the butter from the buttermilk.

     After exploring the historical background, roll up your sleeves and create your very own batch of creamy butter to take home. This immersive event promises to be both educational and delicious, offering a fun and interactive way to connect with the past while enjoying a tasty treat.

     Materials for the 90-minute event are provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

     Free. Tuesday evening, July 23, at 5:30 at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street.

     Girls, it’s time.

     Time to be smart, time to be creative, time to let your voice be heard. Every girl has a story that she needs to shout from the mountain tops—that includes you.  

     Come write, discuss, and revel in what you love in this Uptown Writers’ workshop. During this girls-only writing intensive, you’ll get energized by a few lady rebels from history, and be surrounded by girls who are ready to take on the world, just like you.

     The class will take field trips to the Met Cloisters, The Met Fifth Avenue, the Whitney Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art.

     Any and all kinds of writing are welcome, from real-life to poems to fiction. All awesome girls (and those who self-identify as a girl) in grades 9 through 12 are welcome to apply.

     Monday through Friday afternoons, July 29 to August 9, from 2:45 to 4:45, in Lower WaHi at 600 West 168th Street (at Broadway).

    Embark on a poetic journey in wich nature becomes your muse.

     In this Uptown Writers’ workshop, you’ll a vibrant group of young poets to venture into Upper Manhattan’s flourishing summer landscapes to find poetry in the world around you.

     As you write and read poetic verse you’ll discover what’s beneath every rock, leaf, and flower; open yourself to all of your senses, and use what you find around you to create drawings, fairy dwellings, pocket pals, and whatever calls your imaginations.

     For ages 10 to 14.

     Monday through Friday, August 5 through 9, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., meeting in the P.S. 187 Hudson Cliffs schoolyard in Hudson Heights on Cabrini Boulevard above 181st Street.

     The Little Lions Camp is a kid-centered, fun-based summer camp with a focus on keeping kids physically and creatively active.

     Programming features an ever changing combination of classic PE games, backyard favorites, sports, and special surprises to keep kids happy, active, and engaged. A highly trained, eclectic staff that uses physical education ensures that the games change and that counselors tailor programming to fit children’s needs and likes.

     The camp is sponsored by Columbia University.

     Two sessions: Mondays through Fridays August 5 through 9, for tie dye week; and August 12 through 16 for a superstar theme. At the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood in 218th Street.

     Go back to the roots of animation, using just watercolors, ink, pencils, and the magic of flip books.

     In this Uptown Writers’ workshop, you'll look at examples from flip book artists that tell pocket-size stories that will mesmerize you. You’ll also learn how animators use layers of hand illustrations to bring stories to the screen, then break down the stories’ movements, bringing your world to life in your own flip book.

     For ages 8 to 11.

     Monday through Friday, August 12 to 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Aveneu at 189th Street.

    The Medieval Festival was the most famous event in the Heights, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to the neighborhood. But its sponsor, the Washington Heights & Inwood Development Corporation, announced on March 11 that it will no longer organize the event.

    The corporation canceled last year’s festival owing to costs, and more recently decided refocus its resources on better ways of assisting Uptown residents.

     In the past, lords, ladies, knights, and commoners brought to life the customs and spirit of the middle ages, transforming Fort Tryon Park. Visitors walked into a medieval market town decorated with bright banners and processional flags, greeted by period music, dance, magic, and minstrels, as well as jugglers and jesters. The day concluded with a joust among four knights on horseback.

     The free festival brought tens of thousands of people to the neighborhood each autumn for decades.

     There’s no word if a new sponsor will step in to organize the festival.

     Caballito Negro’s Birds, Bees & Electric Fish features flute and percussion in a family concert. It’s the autumn performance in the Inwood Art Works community concert series.

     Sunday afternoon, October 27, at 2 in the Good Shepherd Auditorium in Inwood on Broadway at Isham Street.

     This Thanksgiving take your kids to the spot where Manhatta became Manhattan, and honor the memory of the Lenape people and the blessings of their land we now call home.

     Shorakkopoch Rock in Inwood Hill Park is said to be the site where Peter Minuit bought the island from the Natives who lived here.

     To find it: From the intersection of 214th Street and Indian Road, follow the path that runs along the water; the boulder is on the far side of a large, open field.

     Delight in a Christmas tradition when Uncle Drosselmeyer gives his neice Clara a wooden toy on Christmas Eve.

     The Former Moscow Ballet presents The Nutcracker, with Tchaikovsky’s classic score.

     $46.53 to $210.10 (includes fees and surcharges). Wednesday night, December 4, at 7 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Is your teen interested in the sciences? Maybe she’s thinking about a career in medicine?

     If so, consider the Lang Youth Medical Program at the Columbia Medical Center. It’s a free opportunity to expose high school students to the science of medicine and aims to inspire teens to achieve their college aspirations through hands-on learning and mentorship.

     It’s open only to students in WaHi who attend a Community School District 6 school at meets on seventeen Saturdays through the year and during the entire month of July. Find out more here.

     The deadline for the next session is in March.