The autumn equinox is the one weekend a year when “the sun moved” is a concrete thing you can point at, and Wave Hill has built its programming around it. The Bronx garden has two free-with-admission programs this Saturday and Sunday, and a standing free day most visitors never notice.
The equinox programming
- Family Art Project: Sun Turning — Saturday, Sept. 19 and Sunday, Sept. 20, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., meet at Wave Hill House. Learn how the sun moves across the sky, then make a sundial to tell time without a clock. Free with admission. No registration.
- Storytime at 11:30 a.m. in the Gund Theater, all ages welcome.
- Kids on the Move! Equilibrium for the Equinox — Sunday, Sept. 20, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., meet at Glyndor Gallery. A breath, movement and garden walk for ages three to eight, led by environmental educator Corinne Flax, who also teaches at Harlem Yoga Studio. Free with admission, no registration, severe weather cancels.
The practical part
- Free all day Thursdays. That is the actual hack — adult admission is $10, students and seniors 65+ $6, children 6+ $4, members free, and Thursdays cost nothing.
- Hours — grounds Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (last entry 30 minutes before close). Galleries and Wave Hill House close at 4:30 p.m.
- Where — 675 W 252nd St / front gate at 4900 Independence Ave, Bronx. Reachable by Metro-North, or subway plus bus. Onsite parking is $13 for non-members.
- Accessibility — Wave Hill House has a ground-level power-assist entrance, an all-gender ADA restroom on the ground floor, and ADA restrooms on the lower level via elevator.
- Continuing — Kids on the Move returns Oct. 18 and Nov. 15.
The reason to go this weekend rather than any other: the two programs stack. Sundials 10 to 1, a walk 1:30 to 2:30, one admission covers both, and the grounds are 28 acres of garden that is genuinely quiet by city standards. The equinox framing is a nice excuse, but the useful fact is smaller and better — the garden is free every Thursday, and almost nobody plans around it.