This Designer Mom Says You Should Visit a Rivertown This Weekend
Ardsley mom and NewFriends Social Club co-founder Melissa Cullens found some worth-the-drive family events to lure you closer to the Hudson River.
This post is part of my “Ask An Expert” series, which features locals with a niche expertise. What’s yours? Email me at kaylakaplowitz@substack.com with your idea!
Most people I’ve met in Westchester and Fairfield County can bond over some version of “so when did you guys move up from the city?” For us, it was 2016. For a few years, we rented the cutest apartment at Half Moon Bay, right on the water in Croton-on-Hudson. Having easy access to all the Rivertowns was a dream.
Soon after we got settled, we found our faves. Burgers outside at Red Hat on the River in Irvington, window shopping in downtown Tarrytown, picnics in Croton Point Park, swimming at Silver Lake and ice cream at Blue Pig, nature walks at Teatown, the 4th of July concert at West Point. I love and miss it all.
Today, we’re literally only 40(ish) minutes away from that side of Westchester. So why does it always feel like such a schlep to me? Spoiler: It’s not.
The key is to have a loose plan (e.g., an event/museum/nature walk, followed by lunch & dessert), and your quick day trip with the kids can feel like a mini-vacay. As parenting expert Lizzie Assa of The Workspace for Children recently reminded me: traveling with kids at any age takes equal parts preparation and a shift in mindset, but is “a thousand percent worth it.”
For this week’s Ask an Expert post, I wanted to ask a current Rivertowns parent about what might be worth the trip this weekend for families on this side of the county (🙋🏻♀️). So, I reached out to my friend Melissa Cullens, a designer who lives with her family in Ardsley.
We know each other from our agency days in NYC and reconnected through (gasp!) our social media algorithms. She co-leads a new venture called NewFriends, a social club for parents who want an easy, low-lift way to regularly hang out together in person. Brilliant.
And so, without further ado, here’s a curated handful of her kid-friendly Rivertowns(ish) event picks for this weekend. Enjoy.
Below the paywall, paid supporters can find Melissa’ full list of Rivertown event recs this weekend.
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