Things to Do in Mount Vernon

The field at TM Baseball & Softball Academy extends both inside and outside letting players play during warm weather, cold weather, or nonexistent indoor snowstorms. During daily training sessions, the TM Baseball & Softball Academy coaching staff helps high school and college-level players–as well as children as young as 3 years old–hone their hitting, defense, and fielding abilities. They also infuse sessions with strength, conditioning, and agility exercises so that players can field line drives and beat mascots during 7th inning dizzy-bat races.

Even though it’s been lauded by CBS New York, Time Out New York Kids, and Nickelodeon Parents Connect, ABC Do-Re-Me! most values praise from its students. At each energetic studio, newborns to 6-year-olds ecstatically bounce along to children’s songs from a live guitarist or to tunes by pop artists such as the Beatles, the Black Eyed Peas, and Madonna, as they build cognitive skills, develop socially, and create dance routines that will wow at baby prom.

New York City Photo Safari coordinates year-round educational excursions that blend hands-on photography lessons with tours of NYC's most famous locales. Owner Diem "Zim" Pham—who works as a travel photographer, a position that often requires the skills to create compelling images in less-than-ideal conditions—and Zim’s team of instructors are all professional photographers currently working in the industry. Safari sizes stay cozy at no more than eight people, allowing for a wealth of personalized feedback and troubleshooting advice for each apprentice. The Metropolitan Museum of Art safari employs the lauded museum halls as a setting for lessons in the use of light and how to overcome difficult lighting challenges, whereas the avant-garde High Line Elevated Park course instructs eyes in the art of composition. Aspiring politicos can embark on the City Hall safari, which fills memory cards with crisp shots of neo-classic architecture and caped superheroes flying to and from the mayor’s office.

With its winding sidewalks, New York City is very walkable⎯a characteristic native New Yorker and Manhattan Walking Tour founder Garry Zafrani celebrates with a slate of informative expeditions. Zafrani and his knowledgeable staff of tour guides lead various jaunts throughout the famed metropolis, sharing historical facts about Central Park, downtown, Times Square, and the High Line along the way. They also sate visitors’ taste buds with food tours, treating palates to global flavors during the International Food Lovers tour and pairing architecture sightings and focaccia during a tour of Greenwich Village.

Twelve certified teachers. Fifty group classes a week. A 2,500-square-foot loft studio. Owners Ernie Fossa and Steven Wheeler created the gym they dreamed of 10 years ago to help patrons improve the way they look and feel. Cot-like reformer machines slung low to the ground line the walls, punctuated by the high metal bars of a tower machine. Both contraptions aid exercisers in engaging their cores and sinking more deeply into stretches, lengthening the standard motions of Pilates, increasing resistance levels, and relieving joints of possible strains. The ample number of instructors means class sizes remain between four and six students, ensuring easy access to the equipment and individual attention for all. For more personalized workouts, patrons can opt for one-on-one sessions with a certified instructor or one of the studio directors, who will motivate them through tailored workouts that combine mat and machine work.

The Coffee & Tea Festival delights sippers with steaming servings of steeped tea or freshly ground coffee from more than three dozen exhibitors. Scents arise from the aromatic booths and during demonstrations, where crowds learn about the peculiarities of tea leaves. In addition to displaying feats of contemporary coffee preparation, exhibitors put on demonstrations that include a presentation on tea cocktails, as well as discussions on how to select and serve teas.