Events great for kids, November 12–18

Monday

Remember our veterans on this centennial anniversary of Memorial Day at one of the monuments to the soldiers, sailors, and Marines in WaHi. (The monuments were erected before the Air Force was established.)

The Battle of Fort Washington is memorialized at Bennett Park, above, in Hudson Heights. You can honor the sacrifices of World War I in Mitchel Square in Lower WaHi.

Need extra computer time?

Have homework to do?

Researching your favorite sports teams or musicians?

Writing some code?

Need to log in to email, touch base with family, or reach out to friends on social media?

Or do you just want to decompress, surf the web, or play some games online?

The library has you covered. Come to Teen Tech Time and use our laptops. And if you have your own device, take it with you and use the library’s wireless access and a place to charge your phone, tablet or laptop.

Free. Monday afternoons from 4 to 7 in Fort George at the Fort Washington branch of the public library on 179th Street between Amsterdam and St. Nicholas Avenues.

Tuesday

For the Love of Music is an educational program that gives young children the opportunity to experience classical music through interactive live performances, guided listening, and explorative conversations.

Each series will consist of six weekly sessions, and will focus on an overarching theme that incorporates both social and musical concepts. The inaugural theme is communication.

The workshops are led by Uptown teachers Katherine Liccardo and Matt Consul. No prior musical experience is necessary to attend the workshops. Recommended for ages 4 to 8.

Free. Tuesday afternoons through November 20 from 4:30 to 5:15 at Our Saviour’s Atonement Church in Hudson Heights at 178 Bennett Avenue (at 189th Street).

Mark Latin American Cultural Week with Pan American Art Research. The Mexican Artist Cynthia Granados Posada will engage with Uptown residents to create and present a collective artwork.
The workshop will connect this year’s theme of LACW and #MeToo in art, to the life and work of the painter and jeweler, Annette Nancarrow, who lived both here and in Mexico. To learn more about her remarkable life and art, click here.

Tuesday through Friday evenings from 5 to 8, and Saturday afternoon at 3 at the Morris-Jumel Mansion in Lower WaHi on Jumel Terrace.

Slimy, fluffy, sticky & squishy!

Take part in the tactile sensation that is ooey, gooey fun: making slime using everyday household products.

All materials are provided. Best for ages 5–12 years.

Free. Tuesday evenings from 5 to 6 at the Fort Washington branch of the public library in Fort George on 179th Street. between St. Nicholas and Audubon Avenues. Through November 20.

Wednesday

A personal garden from his childhood, Peter Bulow’s Onkel Oskar’s Suspenders is populated by monumental statues of his family.

Closes Wednesday at the waterfront in Sherman Creek Park.

Thursday

Anuel AA, the Puerto Rican rapper, brings his show to the Heights.

$70 to $600. Thursday through Saturday nights at 7 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

Friday

Preschoolers and their parents/caregivers can enjoy new and classic picture books, action songs, and related activities, and meet other preschoolers in the neighborhood at story-telling time.

For children ages 3 to 5.

Free. Friday morning at 10:30 at the Fort Washington branch of the NYPL in Fort George on 179th Street between St. Nicholas and Audubon Avenues.

Saturday

Take yourself back to the jazz age with live music and an antiques auction to support Uptown’s children’s theater.

$10; students and children, $5. Saturday afternoon, at 4 at Holy Trinity Church in Inwood at 20 Cumming Street (at Seaman Avenue).

Be prepared to giggle, wiggle, and even supply the sound effects for this interactive Story Time.

Gina Verdi, creative educator, returns to Inwood with stories of light, love, and all things cozy. Invite your friends to celebrate this magical time of year.

Fairy Godmothers and Imaginary Friends are welcome too!

Saturday afternoon at 4 at the Inwood Art Works Gallery on Broadway between Academy and 204th Streets. Also on December 8.

Sunday

More than a Sunday walk, the hike along the Hudson from Dcykman Street to Sugar Hill offers some stunning scenery along its three miles.

From Fort Washington Park, the group will journey south through the narrow park overlooking the river with several stops, including Inspiration Point (collonade) around 187th Street and the Little Red Lighthouse at Jeffrey’s Hook. The trek ends at the state park and pier at 145th Street, where there’s a Latino restaurant, Sofrito’s.

Take water and snacks. The hike is on in most weather; it cancels only if there’s a downpour or snowstorm. The hike leader is Raanan Gerberer, who is working with Shorewalkers.

Sunday morning at 11:30; meet in Inwood on the northwest corner of Broadway and Dyckman Street, near the A Train Dyckman Street station.

Events for Grown-Ups

Planning ahead

Take your kids to a community book shop to hear their favorite stories read out loud by experienced, trained readers. Just like their teachers in the classroom, but with new faces and new friends.

Free. Saturday mornings at 11 at the Word Up Community Book Shop/Librería Comunitaria, in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street.

Do you have a child who’s interested in soccer? The Uptown Soccer Academy has what you need.

The group meets twice a week on the Dyckman Fields for practice. Children ages 6 through 16 learn the basics and hone their skills. In the winter, practice moves indoors. There’s a summer camp, too.

Free. Monday and Friday afternoons from 4:30 to 6.

Medieval stained glass informs, entertains and, at its best, enlightens.

Discover its glory during a special tour of the Cloisters’ collection.

Free with museum admission. Saturday, November 24, at noon and 2 at the museum in Fort Tryon Park.

If you lived on a farm in the nineteenth century, would you travel to town every time you needed some lipstick?

Or would you learn how to make your own makeup? Give it a try in this special workshop on Manhattan’s last farm.

Friday night, November 30, from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street.

Here’s your chance to learn about School in the Square’s planned K–5 expansion.

Kids can enjoy face painting, popcorn, hot dogs, cotton candy, and games.

School in the Square engages, educates and empowers adolescents in Washington Heights to respond mindfully and creatively to life’s opportunities and challenges.

The program draws its name from the concept of the public square, where communities come together to solve problems and celebrate successes. Spanish translation is available.

Saturday, December 1, from 11 to 12:30 at the school in Fort George on Wadsworth Avenue between 179th and 180th Streets.

The movie that defines holiday magic comes to the big screen in WaHi, where it will be introduced by the star’s daughter.

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) stars Jimmy Steward and Donna Reed, and Reed’s daughter, Mary Owen, returns to give you a special taste of the film’s story.

Before the screening, enjoy caroling and an audience sing-a-long with Anwar Robinson, United Palace artistic music director and American Idol top 10 finalist.

$5–$15. Sunday evening, December 2, at 5 with holiday music beginning at 4:3o at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

He’s big, he’s green an he’s ugly. Shrek! The Musical needs kids from Lower WaHi to Inwood to play all the parts. Performances will run on weekends from April 5 to 17

Auditions are open to all.

Friday night, November 3o, from 7:30 to 9:30, and Saturday night, December 1, from 7 to 9 at Holy Trinity Church in Inwood at 20 Cumming Street (at Seaman Avenue).

The Washington Heights Music Fest in collaboration with W.H.A.M. hosts a monthly open mic for artists, poets, singers, writers and performers. Refreshments will be provided.

All ages are welcome, so the acts should be appropriate for everyone.

The first monthly musical open mic will be followed by session on the first Friday of the month. Hosted by Jason Rosario.

$5. Friday night, December 7, from 6 to 9 at the Word Up Community Book Shop in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street. On the first Friday of the month.

Led by professional ride leaders and master trailbuilders, orientation day lets bike readers learn what it takes to build and ride the most progressive urban bike park in America, in Highbridge Park.
Participants earn their turns through the valuable experience of volunteering and riding. There will be light trail maintenance tasks for all ages in the morning, followed by free guided rides for all volunteers, including use of bikes and protective gear, after lunch.

Be sure to take a snack, water, sunscreen, bug repellant, and sturdy shoes or boots.

Free. Saturday, December 8, from 10 to 3. Meet in the Fort George portion of Highbridge Park at the terrain park trailhead, located 200 feet southeast of 131 Fort George Avenue. The series will resume in the spring.

Prepare your home this holiday season with the festive sight and scent of a pomander.

A popular tradition from the Colonial period, pomanders are dried oranges studded with cloves. Make your own at a special workshop and take it home with you.

Free with admission. Saturday, December 8, from 11 to 1 at the Morris-Jumel Manion in Lower WaHi on Jumel Terrace.

Find out the true meaning of yuletide spirit at an all-kids’ performance of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Jr.

Saturday, December 8, at 3 and 7, and Sunday, December 9, at 4 at Holy Trinity Church in Inwood at 20 Cumming Street (at Seaman Avenue). Also on December 15 and 16.

Was it just a piece of undigested beef, or a message more profound? You don’t need a doctor to know the answer to Scrooge’s question in A Christmas Carol.

Set the tone for the holidays at a live reading of the family favorite that will treat listeners of all ages! Refreshments will be served.

$15; members and students, $10; children under 12 years, $5. Sunday evening, December 9, at 6 at the Morris-Jumel Manion in Lower WaHi on Jumel Terrace.

Closing out the exhibition Shattered Dreams and Intimate Treasures: The Work of Cara Lynch, Manhattan’s oldest house hosts a printmaking workshop led by the artist herself.

Participants will design their own block pattern to be applied on a tote bag that they get to keep.
$20; members and students $15 (tote bag included with ticket price). Saturday evening, December 15, at 5:30 at the Morris-Jumel Manion in Lower WaHi on Jumel Terrace.

More than a holiday favorite, A Visit from Saint Nick — you may know it as ’Twas the Night before Christmas — was written by a New Yorker, Clement Clark Moore, who lies buried in WaHi.

Each year his poem is read aloud for those who wish to remember Moore while enjoying his Christmas Eve tale. The afternoon begins with a candlelight trek to his grave in Trinity Cemetery before proceding to the Church of the Intercession for the reading.

Sunday afternoon, December 16, at a time to be announced later at the cemetery in Audubon Park.

What better way to celebrate Lent than in a beautiful Victorian home?

Enjoy offerings of hot spiced wine, apple cider and cookies while singing along to some traditional Christmas carols. Victorian finery welcome.

$10; members and student, $5. Sunday evening, December 16, from 5 to 7 at the Morris-Jumel Mansion in Lower WaHi on Jumel Terrace.

Holiday shopping invariably means higher prices. What if you bought for your true love everything mentioned in a famous carol?

The good news for traditional shoppers last year: the price of the gifts mentioned in The Twelve Days of Christmas increased only 0.7 percent, despite the surge in cost of turtle doves. (Really!)

Prices for drummers and golden rings go up and down. Here’s where to find the prices for 2017.

Immerse yourself in the days when we were British at a family day event in Manhattan’s oldest house. Themes change with the seasons.

Saturday morning, January 12, at 11 at the Morris-Jumel Mansion in Lower WaHi on Jumel Terrace. Monthly on the second Saturday morning.

Do you dream of making movies?

The Inwood Film Festival showcases the sights, sounds, people, and talents of Inwood.

Every film screend at the event is made in Upper Manhattan or made by current or past Inwood filmmakers. And there’s even a category for students!

Awards are given in categories including documentary, short, feature, and spirit of Inwood.

Winning films will be screened March 14 through 16 at the Columbia Athletic Complex.

Deadline to enter: Tuesday, January 15. More info here.

Have a talent you want to share? Or try out a new song?

Prepare your family-friendly bit for open mic night, sponsored by Pied Piper Children’s Theatre. A pianist will be ready to help.

Take the kids and dinner, too — tables will be set up for meals.

$5. Saturday night, February 9, at 7 at Holy Trinity Church in Inwood at 20 Cumming Street (at Seaman Avenue).

The Latin boy band CNCO delivers its fan-pleasing show Uptown, turning a cold winter’s night hot.

$69 to $1,000. Saturday night, February 23, at 7 and Sunday night, February 24, at 8 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Music is the theme of the rechristened Washington Heights Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K.
     The route is Fort Washington Avenue from Lower WaHi to the Cloisters and back, so prepare for a busy street. In 2015 more than 6,000 runners finished the 3.2-mile race. An separate start for kids is part of the Rising New York Road Runners program.
     Fee varies by age and classification. A Sunday morning at 9 starting at J. Hood Wright Park in Lower WaHi.

The Inwood Film Festival showcases the sights, sounds, people, and talents of Inwood.

Every film screend at the event is made in Upper Manhattan or made by current or past Inwood filmmakers. And there’s even a category for students!

Awards are given in categories including documentary, short, feature, and spirit of Inwood.

Want to enter? The deadline is January 15.

Festival: Thursday through Saturday, March 14 through 16 at the Campbell Sports Center at the Columbia Athletic Complex at 218th and Broadway,

Auditions for A Festival of Folk Tales are open to Uptown children.

In April on days and times to be announced later at Holy Trinity Church in Inwood at 20 Cumming Street (at Seaman Avenue).

He’s big, he’s green an he’s ugly. Shrek! The Musical features kids from Lower WaHi to Inwood.

Friday night, April 5, at 7, Saturday, April 6 at 3 and 7, and Sunday, April 7, at 4 at Holy Trinity Church in Inwood at 20 Cumming Street (at Seaman Avenue). Also on April 12 through 14.

The three-acre Heather Garden is the site of an annual rite of spring: the Shearing of the Heather by members of the Northeast Heather Society and Heather Garden staff.

Led by a bagpiper, a community parade through the garden delights children, who are invited to take an instrument with them (adults are, too). Throughout the morning you will learn why Fort Tryon Park has the largest heath and heather collection in the northeast, and how to propagate your own heathers with clippings from the shearing.

Free. A Saturday morning in early April in the Heather Garden in Fort Tryon Park, near the entrance at Margaret Corbin Circle in Hudson Heights.

Take part in a morning of music-making and discovery.

Students in kindergarten through 5th grade are the honored guests for an interactive adventure to tame The Mighty Cacophonous Orchestrasauras and learn what makes the orchestra such an amazing creature.

Tickets available in January.

Saturday morning, April 27, at 11 at Fort Washington Collegiate Church in Hudson Heights on 181st Street at Col. Robt. McGaw Place.

Making good after he had to postpone his autumn concert, Christian Nodal, the Mexican mariachi songwriter, performs Uptown.

$70 to $660. Saturday night, April 27, at 7 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

Have fun with friends and neighbord at Dance Night, sponsored by Pied Piper Children’s Theatre.

Saturday night, May 4, at 7 at Holy Trinity Church in Inwood at 20 Cumming Street (at Seaman Avenue).

The Latin pop lengends Yuri & Pandora visit Lower WaHi for what promises to be a spectacular concert.

$70 to $193. Friday night, May 24, at 7 at the United Palace Theatre on Broadway at 175th Street.

Take in the lessons from A Festival of Folk Tales, directed the Actors’ Society.

Saturday, June 8, at 3 and 7, and Sunday, June 9, at 4 at Holy Trinity Church in Inwood at 20 Cumming Street (at Seaman Avenue). Also on June 15 and 16.

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 June in Inwood Hill Park at Indian Road and 218th Street.

After the intensity of the summer workshop, seniors are ready for their recital.

Free. Saturday, June 29, at a time to be announced later in the Parish House of Holy Trinity Church in Inwood at 20 Cumming Street (at Seaman Avenue).

Come swim the mighty Hudson!

The Spuyten Duyvil 10K is an event hosted by New York Open Water. It starts at Yonkers and finishes in Inwood, with the current assisting the intrepid souls through tumultuous and storied Spuyten Duyvil, where the Harlem River meets the Hudson.

The route, which actually covers 6.5 miles despite the name, offers scenic views of Yonkers, Riverdale, Spuyten Duyval Bridge, and the George Washington Bridge.

Sign up here. If you’re a land lubber, you can watch the finish in Uptown.

A Sunday in September, with the course’s end at La Marina in Inwood where Dyckman Street meets the Hudson.

The Medieval Festival is the most famous event in the Heights, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to the neighborhood.

Lords, ladies, knights and commoners converge in Fort Tryon Park in the area around the Cloisters.

Free. A Sunday in late September from 11:30 to 6 in Fort Tryon Park.

The scariest—and silliest—dogs of Uptown turn out for the Fort Dog Halloween contest and parade.

Prizes go to costumes in a variety of categories.

A Sunday morning in late October at Sir Williams’ Dog Run in Fort Tryon Park.