Good free family event in the neighborhood today (rain or shine) — the 10th Annual Mamapalooza Festival is taking place at Pier I in Riverside Park South (Hudson River & 70th). There will be food, live music, kids activities, crafts and more.

If you’re looking to for a volunteer opportunity and aren’t afraid to get your hands dirty, the Riverside Park Conservancy is looking for people to help out with various projects this Saturday (5/18) for It’s My Park Day. Volunteers are needed between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm at various locations around the park.

If you’re an Upper West Side dog owner (or thinking about becoming one), DNAinfo has a nice overview of the six dog runs in the neighborhood. There’s a great quote from the owner of a Golden Retriever talking about how his dog likes to socialize with a wide variety of breeds at the apparently extra-large [...]

The 12th Annual New York City Irish Dance Festival takes place on the Upper West Side this afternoon. The event is free and there are activities for people of all ages.

The 70th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising will be commemorated in Riverside Park tomorrow afternoon (Friday, 4/19). The event takes place from 12:30 to 2:30 pm at the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial (inside the park at 83rd Street).

Yes, you already know it’s a snow day… but did you know it’s an NYC Parks official snow day? That means free hot chocolate, free access to sleds, contests, and more at five designated locations throughout New York City. Luckily, the Manhattan NYC Parks Snow Day spot is right here on the Upper West Side [...]

‘Tis definitely no longer the season, as the pile of discarded Christmas trees outside my building earlier this week clearly shows. If you’re still clinging to your Christmas tree and trying to figure out what to do with it, take note that MulchFest 2013 — NYC’s annual Christmas tree recycling program — runs though this [...]

Posted yesterday that all NYC parks, including Central and Riverside, would be closed until noon today. Just a heads up that the closures have been extended to Friday morning. This is a city-wide order from the Parks Department, but here’s a note the Central Park Conservancy sent out earlier this afternoon:

Posted earlier that Riverside Park is officially reopening on Saturday (Central Park, too). In poking around the Riverside Park Fund’s website, I just discovered their annual Halloween Parade that was canceled by Superstorm Sandy has been rescheduled for the late afternoon tomorrow (Saturday, 11/3).

UPDATE 6:21 pm: From @hiphopgrli: “lots of people biking and running in Riverside south tonight also.” If you’re an Upper West Side dog owner with a pooch that wants to stretch its legs, I’m getting word that people are at the dog runs in Riverside Park at 87th & 105th streets. To be clear, Riverside [...]

While most of the Upper West Side escaped Superstorm Sandy relatively unscathed, the same cannot be said for two of the neighborhood’s most beloved features: Central Park and Riverside Park. Both suffered extensive wind damage to trees and infrastructure, with Riverside Park also experiencing significant flooding from the Hudson River. Relative to the devastation elsewhere [...]

Attention UWS dog owners: Got a note from my sister earlier today that city officials were in Riverside Park this morning checking to see if dogs (and their owners) had up-to-date registration tags.

It’s feels a bit early for this, but Halloween is slowly creeping up on us. The popular annual pumpkin carving demonstration in Riverside Park will take place tomorrow afternoon (Saturday, 10/6).

Posted yesterday about Tino, the cat that had gone missing from an UWS apartment on West 97th. If you’re a cat-lover, you can breath a sigh of relief — owner Melanie e-mailed earlier to report Tino was found, safe and sound: We found him! Construction workers in my building saw him outside and alerted our doorman. [...]

UPDATE 10/3: Tino Found! Posted last week about a cat that was found by a reader in Riverside Park. In that instance, the hunt was for the owner. Today, I received an e-mail from a reader whose cat escaped from her UWS apartment yesterday — she’s now desperately trying to track him down.