Keep ahead of the seasonal inertia that keeps you inside on cool days and the weight gain that comes with snacking at Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the holidays.

     Start now with some outdoor exercise in one of the crown jewels of Manhattan’s parks. Led by an expert in public health and fitness, Nancy Bruning, you will explore new areas of the park and traverse some of its 52 staircases, all while experiencing the mental and physical health benefits of nature.

     Get fit with staircase climbing, walking, strengthening exercises, and stretching. The pace on Mondays is easy, on Wednesdays is moderate, and on Fridays is more intense.

     Free. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 7 to 7:45. Meet at the entrance to the park at Margaret Corbin Plaza in Hudson Heights. Through January 14.

     The Hebrew Tabernacle in Hudson Heights is participating in Faiths 4 Climate Justice, a global, multi-religious movement that will bring together people from diverse religious groups plan to rise up in a global, grassroots, multi-faith action.

     Through two days of peaceful action, the group aims to make clear to  governments and financial institutions that they must do more, and they must do it faster.

     Sunday afternoon at 1:30 at the Tabernacle on Fort Washington Avenue at 185th Street. A protest demonstration is planned for Monday morning at 8:30 in Midtown.

     Photographic reproductions of works from Hispanic Society’s unparalleled collections come to you.

     With the society’s gallries under renovation, seventeen images including works from Spain, Mexico, Peru, and Puerto Rico take their place outdoors on Audubon Terrace. Pieces in the selecting date from the sixteenth through the early twetntieth centuries.

     Free. Mondays through Saturdays, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. On the terrace, which is at Broadway and 155th Street. Through December 6.

     Embark on a self-guided historical and musical walking tour that follows the footsteps of the German Jews and others who fled 1930s Nazi Germany to settle in Washington Heights.

     At the time Hudson Heights was referred to as Frankfurt on the Hudson, and its fading richness comes alive in the 1986 documentary We Were So Beloved.

     Mendelssohn on the Hudson lets you explore on your own over with fresh air and social distancing, from 181 Street to the Heather Garden, and points in between.

     As you take the tour, you will hear field-collected recollections from neighborhood residents set to Felix Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words. From Inwood Art Works.

     Free. Download all twelve episodes here. Through October.

     Get out of that pandemic cave and release some tension with an Uptown jam session.

     The musicians of JazzWaHi will ease you back into your groove at a weekly outdoor concert. Take a blanket and a snack for some live, local music.

     Free. Monday afternoons from 4 to 5:15 in Bennett Park, in Hudson Heights on Fort Washington Avenue at 183rd Street.

      A new effigy of Revolutionary War hero Margaret Corbin takes the form of a tomb at The Cloisters, figuratively and aesthetically stitching together the war battlefield and the medieval French abbeys.

     The Tomb Effigy of Margaret Corbin was created by artist Zaq Landsberg, the 2020 recipient of the Clare Weiss Emerging Artist Award.

     Free. In Fort Tryon Park on the Lindon Terrace through June 12.

     Support your health by shopping at a farmers’ market.

     From late spring through the late autumn, the Fort Washington Greenmarket in Lower WaHi offers Mexican herbs, peppers, and greens, honey, cheese, juice pressed from ripe orchard fruit, produce grown in the rich soil of Orange County’s “Black Dirt” region, pastries and fresh bread.

     The collection of food scraps for composting and used textiles for recycling is on hiatus during the pandemic.

     Tuesdays from 8 to 4 on Fort Washington Avenue at 168th Street. Open through November 24.

     Discover paella from an enthusiast and researcher. Mark Aldrich will demonstrate how to cook a variation of the popular Valencian dish in a video tutorial, followed by a live conversation about the history of the dish and its many variations around the Hispanic world.

     To learn more about the Hispanic Society ‘s collection of cookbooks, click here.

     Free. Wednesday evening at 5 through the society’s social media.

     A festival of monthly outdoor concerts by Leadlights has celebrated the resilience of New Yorkers during the Covid-19 pandemic and brings the energy of live music to WaHi streets.

     Play On, Washington Heights, features music by people of color and women, including the highly acclaimed Black composer Jessie Montgomery, Puerto Rican composer Angélica Negron, and one of the earliest classical composers of African descent, Chevalier de Saint-George.

     The final outdoor concert of the season features the opera singer Sishel Claverie, who will join the ensemble for some vocal favorites.

     Free. The series concludes Wednesday evening at 5 at Word Up Community Book Shop in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street.

     It’s that time again.

     Community Board 12 is holding a public hearing to listen to your comments on proposed expenditures Uptown.

     Many of the funding requests come from organizations or individuals. Your comments will assist the board in its priority rankings, which it submits to the Mayor’s Office. Your participation is not only welcomed but encouraged.

     Wednesday evening at 6:30 on Zoom. Passcode: 260630

     While you’ve probably come across television shows dedicated to hunting ghosts at one time or another, how much do you really know about paranormal activity?

     With the help of paranormal investigators from Manhattan’s most historic (and haunted) mansion, it's time to dive into a ghost-hunting crash course to help you conduct your own investigations using everyday equipment.

     Join a collaboration between the New York Adventure Club and the Morris-Jumel Mansion for an introduction to ghost-hunting.

     Register here.

     $12.47. Wednesday night at 7 online.

     A New York farmers’ market offers fresh fruit and vegetables from the Hudson Valley, the Garden State and beyond.

     The Lower WaHi market is open Thursdays on 175th Street between Wadsworth Avenue and Broadway.
     Open through November 19.

     Put yourself in a Halloween mood by exploring a Colonial mansion after dark—by candlelight.

     Each explorer will receive an electric candle to illuminate the house as a guide explains the property’s history and the spirits who may still inhabit the space. 

     The event is limited to those 14 years of age and over; minors must be accompanied by an adult. Register here.

     $32.68. Friday night at 7 at the Morris-Jumel Mansion on Jumel Terrace.

    The Inwood greenmarket is a year-round neighborhood favorite.
    People of all ages, backgrounds, and tastes gather each Saturday to meet and greet their friends and neighbors and do their weekly shopping. Even on the coldest, darkest winter Saturdays, loyal Inwood shoppers come out because they know they can’t get products like this anywhere else.
     A core group of 15 farmers attends every week of the year, and during the peak of the season, five more join to round out the offerings with the summer’s bounty.

     The collection of food scraps for composting and used textiles for recycling is on hiatus during the pandemic.
     Saturdays from 8 to 3 on Isham Street between Seaman Avenue and Cooper Street. Open year-round.

     Join the Fort Tryon Park Trust and park stewards at a seasonal kick-off volunteer event.

     Help clean out the Broadway berm from winter natural debris and weeds and you’ll connect with the earth. With pandemic-related cuts to the parks’ budget, your help is all the more important.

     The tools are supplied; wear clothes to get dirty in and take water and a snack.

     Saturday morning from 9 until 1. Meet in the park at the Broadway and Arden Street entrance. Also on November 13 and 27.

     In a city dotted with foreign consulates and populated with missions to the U.N. comes the most unusual diplomatic posting ever.

     The Parks Department is looking for ambassadors to trash.

     That’s the name they’re giving to volunteers in Inwood Hill Park who will help clean up visitors’ litter. Four-hour shifts will collect discards and detritus over the weekends from the spring through the autumn.

     Sign up to help by getting in touch with Maria Febus at Maria.Febus@parks.nyc.gov.

     Saturdays and Sundays at 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. You’ll meet at either Seaman Avenue and Isham Street or the Peninsula entrance at 218th Street. Through October 31.

     Go on an adventure through the steps of exploring your and others' cultural heritage and discussing arts and culture.

     With simple exercises and engaging conversations, this workshop, Cultural Understanding through the Arts, will demonstrate a fresh perspective on becoming a (more active) patron of the arts while building a deeper understanding across various cultures. Michael C. Liu leads the workshop.

     Reserve a space here.

     Free, but donations are encouraged. Saturday afternoon from 2 to 4 near the picnic tables at Muscota Marsh in Inwood Hill Park.

     Ever seen a meteor?

     Let the Urban Park Rangers help you in a survey of the October night sky. Rangers will provide an overview of the science, history, and folklore of astronomy and our universe, followed by guided observations through telescopes and binoculars.

     With any luck, you’ll get to see one of the twenty meteors of the Orionid Meteor Shower.

     Take your own observation tools or use the Rangers’ telescope.

     Free. Saturday night from 6 to 9 at the Payson Park House in Inwood Hill Park near the intersection of Dyckman Street and Payson Avenue.

     The spirits of a deceased couple are harassed by an unbearable family who moves into their home, and hire a malicious spirit to drive them out. Starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Alex Baldwin, and Dick Cavet, Beeteljuice is rated PG.

    Grab a blanket and take in a movie under the stars.  Seating is limited but reservations are not taken, so arrive in plenty of time.

     Free. Saturday night at 6:30 on the Dongan Lawn in Fort Tryon Park.

     Looking for an unforgettable ghost story of your own?

     Take part in a paranormal investigation at Manhattan’s oldest surviving house, and you’ll learn the history of spirit activity at Morris-Jumel Mansion. You may even get to visit the room where it happened …

     Participants will also explore the history of the Mansion, its former residents, and the museum collections as they relate to the paranormal.

     During the program you will have exclusive after-dark access to hunt for ghosts in our normally closed-off period rooms.

     This event is for those 18 years of age and over. Register here.

     Sold out. $64.25. Saturday night at 7 at the mansion on Jumel Terrace. Also on October 30.

     As we face another winter with the virus, Up Theater looks ahead with four plays on the theme of renewal, exploring tolerance, diversity, and the American workplace.
     Closing the series is Thoughts an Pryaers: When Annie's middle-school classmates are the victims of a school shooting, she vows to do everything she can to ensure that they did not die in vain. But she needs the support of her teacher, who must process her own grief, before she is able to act.

     October 2  Allies, by Michael John McGoldrick

     October 9 The Best Damn Thing, by Hanna Kime

     October 16 Paper Chains, by Loretta Oleck
     October 23 Thoughts and Prayers, by Barbara Blumenthal-Erlich

     Four Saturday night at 7 at Buunni Coffee in Inwood on Broadway 207th and Isham Streets.

     Combining new and original compositions for violin, voice, and electronics with video and other media, The Afield is dedicated to exploring the space between sound and sight. It’s a collaboration between violinist Rebecca Fischer (Chiara String Quartet) and visual artist Anthony Hawley.   

     The concert program includes original works and music by Georg Philipp Telemann, Mathew Fuerst, Lisa Bielawa, Byron Au Yong, and Nico Muhly.

     Free. Saturday night at 7:30 in The Lounge of Hudson View Gardens in Hudson Heights on Pinehurst Avenue at 183rd Street.

     Learn about the inspiration behind Marta Blair’s ourdoor art. She will discuss her inspiration, her process, the media she works in, and the details around the installation. 

     Free. Sunday afternoon at 3 at a corner of Fort Tryon Park between Hudson Heights and Fort George on Broadway at Bennett Avenue.

     Walk into Uptown’s past on a musical and historical tour that follows the footsteps of the German Jews and others who fled 1930s Nazi Germany to settle in WaHi.

     Based on the podcast “Mendelssohn on the Hudson,” you’ll hear episodes with music based on memories from neighborhood residents set to Felix Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words and featuring landmarks like those in Fort Tryon Park.

     The podcast creator will lead you on episodes that focus on Fort Tryon Park, followed by a Q&A.

     Register here.Take headphones and your smartphone to hear the podcast in real-time.

     Free. Sunday afternoon at 3 in Fort Tryon Park.

     Famous and up-and-coming artists perform at Eliot’s weekly sessions and her free concerts are legendary among jazz aficionados.

     Before the pandemic, Eliot welcomed aficianados to her Inwood apartment to listen live. Now she streams her performances.

     Free. Sunday afternoons at 3:30 online.

     The reading series Bloom presents a variety of authors and genres.

     Bloom’s literary readings and discussions will get you to shake off your assumptions and think hard about everything.

     Returning from its summer hiatus, the October gathering helps launch two poetry chapbooks: Bloom co-curator Sarah Van Arsdale’s Taken and Ana Maria Spagna’s Mile MarkerSix. The prose writers Victoria Buitron and Max S. Gordon will participate too.

     More information may be at bloomreadings.net.

     Free.  Sunday evening at 5 at The Lounge in Hudson View Gardens, in Hudson Heights on Pinehurst Avenue at 183rd Street. Monthly on the third Sunday (more often than not), September through May but not December.

      Among the things WaHi is famous for is the noise. Lots of it!

      But does it seem eerily quiet now? You may not miss the auditory assaults, but the sounds of people mingling and waiters serving are becoming memories.

      Refresh yours with the New York Public Library’s new online album: Missing Sounds of New York. It probably won’t win any Grammys, but each track uses a combination of sounds to create familiar canvases on which mini stories are placed: a glass breaking in a bar, a dance performance on the subway, an overly enthusiastic baseball fan.

      It’s free and it’s available from the library. (No need for a library card!)

     Commuters are seeing changes in Fort George this year.

     There is no 1 service at 181 Street Station in 2021. The MTA is completely replacing the elevators (they’re over 80 years old!) that provide access to the station.

     The work is scheduled to last until December. A variety of shuttles will be available, and there’s the A Train and its new elevators at 181st Street and Fort Washington Avenue.

     The High Bridge—New York City’s oldest standing bridge—is a landmark that connects walkers and cyclists with Manhattan and the Bronx.
     The High Bridge is a path from the neighborhoods of Washington Heights to Highbridge across the river, and is accessible from both boroughs.
     Free. Daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Enter from Highbridge Park, in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue in the 170s.

     Partner with the 34th Precinct to make the neighborhood safer.

     At the event you will meet your neighborhood coordination officers to discuss your public safety concerns and find out how to help the police keep the peace.

     Thursday evening, October 28, at 6 in the gym of St. Elizabeth’s School in Fort George on Wadsworth Avenue near 186th Street.

     The conference season closes for the Lions’ field hockey team as Columbia hosts Penn.

     Friday evening, October 29, at 5 at the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood.

     It’s senior day for Columbia field hockey, the final home game of the team’s twenty-fifth anniversary season.

     For Lions, it’s also Founder’s Day, marking 267 years since Columbia was founded — as King’s College, back in the days when the King was George II.

     Sunday evening, October 31, at 6 at the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood.

     One way or another, the Fourth Annual Washington Heights Jazz Festival shares the enthusiasm of Uptown musicians.

     Sponsored by Jazz WaHi.

     Thursday, November 4, through Sunday, November 7, either in Husdon Heights on online.

     The 2021 Chili Bowl cookoff will determine the best chili in a variety of categories, including vegan.

     The contest raises money for the Inwood Food Pantry at Good Shepherd Church, which feeds over 3,500 people a month. 

     Taste and vote for the best chilis in town. Think you can compete? To register a chili send an email to trbosco@gmail.com.

     Saturday, November 6, from noon to 2 at Good Shepherd Church in Inwood on Isham Street between Seaman Avenue and Cooper Street.

     Columbia salutes veterans on Heroes’ Day this weekend.

     After a special commemoration of the military and its active and returned volunteers, the Lions will host the Crimson as Harvard switches backdrops from the Charles to the Hudson.

     $12 to $30. Saturday afternoon, November 6, at 1 on Kraft Field in Wein Stadium at the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood.

     Los Ángeles Azules, the Mexican musical group playing the cumbia sonidera genre, made a name in the cumbia subgenre using accordion and synthesizers. The result is a fusion of the sounds of cumbia from the 1950–70s with those of 1990s-style electronic music.

     All ticket holders must show either physical or electronic proof of at least one vaccine shot and a government-issued ID with matching name. There are no exemptions. ​

     $80.71 to $400. Friday night, November 12, at 7 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     An Inwood community concert features a double bill of classical chamber music and American jazz compositions performed by Uptown professional musicians.

     The evening features Double Entendre and The Phantasy Quartet playing music by Caleb Burhans, Anna Dagmar, Chad Smith, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Another set from the Nick Grinder Jazz Quartet features his original jazz compositions.

     Register here to reserve a seat.

     Free. Friday night, November 12, at 7 at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Inwood at 4967 Broadway.

     Be there when the Lions close out their season at home with a salute to seniors.

     Then Columbia will take the field against conference rival Brown.

     $12 to $30. Saturday afternoon, November 13, at 1 on Kraft Field in Wein Stadium at the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood.

     The Colombian singer and songwriter Karol G is at the forefront of Latin trap and reggaeton, and she’s bringing her show to Uptown.

     All ticket holders must show either physical or electronic proof of at least one vaccine shot and a government-issued ID with matching name. There are no exemptions. ​

     $62.68 to $360.78. Thursday night, November 18, at 7 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     A yearly gathering on Thanksgiving will remind you of the Lenape people and the blessings of their land we now call home.

     A short ceremony honors our duty to Mother Earth and our responsibility to the forest, the river, and each other.

     Free. Thanksgiving morning at 9 at Shorakkopoch Rock in Inwood Hill Park. 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.

    Miel San Marcos, a Christian praise and worship band, consists of brothers Josh, Samy, and Luis Morales, who formed the group in 2000 at the Revival Tabernacle in San Marcos, Guatemala.

     Their performance comes Uptown.

     All ticket holders must show either physical or electronic proof of at least one vaccine shot and a government-issued ID with matching name. There are no exemptions. ​

     $33.36 to $176.50. Saturday evening, November 27, at 6:30 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

      If you like outdoor geometry, get on the street for sunrise and sunset when the shadows line up with the streets.

      The “Manhattanhenge” effect works Uptown on days different from the rest of the island’s.

      To see the sun line up with the streets in Hudson Heights (on 181st Street in the photo), where the street grid is aligned differently from most of the borough, get out on April 18; it’s also on August 26 in Hudson Heights Henge. Fort George Henge is on the same dates as Manhattan, and Inwood Henge is on January 23 — the grid there is so katy-wompus that the sun aligns when it is due “south.”

     The effect works below 174th and above 174th if you go east of Broadway (for sunrise: sunset views may be blocked by buildings to the west). So if you want to see Manhattanhenge, as it’s dubbed, hope for clear skies on May 30 and June 12.

     Inwood Henge: Sunday, January 23, at dawn and dusk.

     You can look for the dates in all the city’s neighborhoods on this map from Carto.

     Only in New York ...

     One day late in most springs, The Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx comes together to claim the neighborhood of Marble Hill which, the group suggests, belongs to the only borough on the mainland on the basis that it was annexed by Bronx Borough President James Lyons in the 1930s.
     Care to fight back? Everyone is welcome, even hecklers.
     Free. Postponed by the pandemic, but typically a Saturday in early May beginning with pre-invasion cocktails at Mr. McGoo’s Pub in Kingsbridge on Broadway; the battle of Marble Hill commences once the tab is settled.

     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 Shorakapok (“edge of the water”).

     The event features dancers and drummers from around the world, combining Native American heritage, culture and art with the diversity of New York City. Activities include a Tree of Peace planting, international cuisine, Native American storytelling, a Pow Wow and crafts.
     The event has attracted a growing audience, numbering from 400 in the first year to over 8,000 in recent years.
     Free. A Sunday in early June in Inwood Hill Park at Indian Road and 218th Street.