12 completely free things to do in New York City this April

After more than a century, it’s finally time to say: April is NOT the cruelest month. That ignominious honor in fact belongs to February, as a matter of settled law. With the legal language out of the way, we can return to April in the city, a time when flowers bloom, the weather turns, and free events pop up across all five boroughs. Here are a few you can check out.

Spend a day at indieplaza at Rockefeller Center

Record Store Day, the twice-yearly global celebration of indie (you guessed it) record stores and all things vinyl, is fast approaching. That means the return of indieplaza, a festival put on by Rough Trade, the iconic record store and label that moved its American location in Williamsburg to… Rockefeller Center. This year, the new location will open at 9 a.m on Saturday, April 12 for shopping, while the music starts at noon. The Hives highlight a lineup that includes Pachyman, Scowl, and several other bands and DJs. Get your (free) tickets here.

Celebrate the opening of the Davis Center at the Harlem Meer

After several years of construction, the new Davis Center will open in Central Park. It will have an Olympic-size swimming pool that transforms into an ice-skating rink AND a public green, and the reimagined space will offer free and low-cost programming all year round. A daylong festival will celebrate the new Davis Center’s opening on Saturday, April 26. The event begins at noon at the new Harlem Oval, and Central Park Conservancy says it will feature “activations from local community-based organizations, food and drink, live performances and hourly tours of the new venue.”

Listen to the organ at St. John the Divine

What better way to end a weekend and clear your mind for the week ahead than with an organ recital? On Sunday, April 6 at 5 p.m. at St. John the Divine in Harlem, organ scholar Jacob Gruss will perform on the church’s Great Organ, which was recently restored. All you have to do is show up, sit back, and enjoy the 45 minutes of music.

Visit Mother Nature in the Bardo

Where can you see work by legends like Georgia O’Keefe and Claude Monet in conversation with contemporary artists? All to explore the convergence of art, culture and the environment? For free? At “Mother Nature in the Bardo,” an exhibition is on view through the end of the month at High Line Nine, an events venue near the High Line. The exhibition was created in partnership with UNESCO’s GEM Report, and it’s open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

See an Earth Day concert on car-free streets

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that Earth is probably the best planet in the Solar System when it comes to supporting life. To celebrate Earth Day on April 26, Broadway performers will take to the streets to sing, dance and tell stories to the masses in the appropriately named “Broadway Celebrates Earth Day.” The concert is at the Times Square Pedestrian Plaza starting at 11 a.m., but thanks to the Department of Transportation, the streets will be car-free all day, so you can walk to the show and enjoy it without the noise and exhaust of personal transportation vehicles ruining the experience.

Enjoy Easter festivities with the kids

April is a jam-packed month, with Earth Day, Record Store Day, and Easter packing the weekends with activities. On Saturday, April 19 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Easter Fest will come to City Point in Downtown Brooklyn, where kids can do crafts, decorate cookies, and meet the Easter Bunny. It’s designed for kids under 10.

Go to a hoedown throwdown

Two words: hoedown, throwdown. What more do you need to know? Perhaps that it’s on Saturday, April 12 from 7 to 10 p.m. at Recess, near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Or that it’s part of Cleo Reed’s exhibition “Cuntry: Always the Horse, Never the Jockey.” You might also want to know the evening will feature blues, country, and folk music, PLUS a line-dancing workshop for anyone who always wanted to learn. All for free! You won’t want to miss this hoedown throwdown.

Learn about soil and compost for your urban garden

Have you sown your seeds for summer yet? Before you do, you’ll need to get your soil and compost situation squared away. That’s where The Battery Conservancy’s Urban Farming 101 workshops come in. This month they’ll teach you all you need to know about soil composition, managing your crops, and composting. There will be three sessions: April 9 from 5 to 7 p.m.; April 11 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.; and April 12 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Even though it’s free, you do have to reserve tickets, so don’t wait too long!

Party with women street photographers

The Women Street Photographers’ annual New York City exhibition is happening from April 14 through 28 at El Barrio’s Artspace P.S. 109. But before that, there’s an opening party on Thursday, April 10, starting at 6 p.m. Enjoy wine and music while exploring the works on view at the exhibition, and featured artists will also be in attendance if you’re in a “mingle with artists” kind of mood.

Learn about slavery in Brooklyn

It’s a common misconception that the pre-Civil War North was somehow a nonparticipant in the slave trade that helped define the early years of America. But New York City has a long and complex history with the institution, which The Center for Brooklyn History explores in its “Trace/s” exhibition, on view through the end of August. The exhibition uses primary sources and genealogical work to examine what the experience of the slaves who helped build Brooklyn might have been like. The Center for Brooklyn History is open every day except Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Gaze at the night sky from Staten Island

The nights may be shorter now, but they’re just as beautiful. Stargazers of all levels can schlep out to Staten Island’s Lemon Creek Park on Sunday, April 13 starting at 7:30 p.m. for an evening with the Urban Park Rangers. They’ll guide you through the vast abyss of outer space as you peer through a telescope to check out the planets, stars, and nearby galaxies that have piqued human interest for thousands of years.

Handwrite the Constitution at the Old Stone House

Did you know that when the Founders were coming up with the Constitution, they had to handwrite it themselves? Not a typewriter in sight! Billed as “activism for introverts,” Handwriting the Constitution is a social art project that Morgan O’Hara started in 2017. As you might guess, participants sit together and handwrite parts of our nation’s foundational legal document. On

Monday, April 7 from 6 to 8 p.m., you can head to the Old Stone House in Brooklyn’s Washington Park – the site of a Revolutionary War battle, no less – to take part in a project nearly a quarter-millennium in the making.