On Monday, October 5, at noon, the Village of Rye Brook is holding a ribbon-cutting at Harkness Park, 840 King Street, for a free outdoor Fitness Court® Studio. The Village says installation wrapped up in mid-September. The Village event listing runs the ceremony from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m., with demonstrations and a chance to try the equipment.
The court's location matters as much as the equipment. The King Street stretch next to Blind Brook High School already has tennis courts and turf fields, and both come with conditions attached. The Fitness Court is the first thing on that strip with none of those conditions.
Three facilities, three sets of rules
The Village's 2026 fall Recreation brochure describes Harkness Park as sitting on King Street next to the Blind Brook High School campus, with four tennis courts and an AED on the tennis shed. Rye Brook Athletic Field is a few doors down at 830 King Street. Here's what each one takes to use, based on the Village's own descriptions.
| Facility | Address | What you need to use it | Listed users |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harkness Park tennis courts | 840 King Street | A Court Reserve reservation and a valid 2026 Court Reserve permit | Blind Brook High School Tennis Team |
| Rye Brook Athletic Field | 830 King Street | Field use runs through organized programs | RB Travel Soccer, Blind Brook Football, Blind Brook Soccer, NY Soccer Club, Old Timers Soccer |
| Fitness Court® Studio | 840 King Street | Be 14 or older; no orientation required | Open to the public |
The tennis courts stay open through Thanksgiving, but only with a reservation through Court Reserve and a 2026 permit. The turf fields carry a roster of league and school programs. The new court has one requirement, an age floor of 14. The Village's event page says the equipment is marked with QR codes and instructions and that no orientation is needed.
What the seven stations ask of you
The Fitness Court is a standard National Fitness Campaign design. It uses your own body weight instead of powered machines, and the campaign says the stations support hundreds of exercise variations. There are seven stations, used in this order:
- Core
- Squat
- Push
- Lunge
- Pull
- Agility
- Bend
Rye Brook's version adds a feature most courts don't have. Opposite the stations is a studio space for stretching and classes. The Village press release names yoga, Zumba and Tai Chi as examples. The event page lists yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi. The Village describes the workouts as adaptable to any fitness level, so people can go at their own pace.
For anyone who doesn't want to make up a routine on the spot, there's the free Fitness Court App. It offers instructional videos at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, structured workouts, a map with directions to courts, and personal activity tracking. According to the Village event page, the app also connects to rotating workouts and a trainer-led video library.
How it got to King Street
The court is a partnership of the Village, MVP Health Care and the National Fitness Campaign, with Sunrise Senior Living as a sponsor. The Village presents it as an extension of its existing F.I.T. program, short for Fitness Initiative Together. In the Village announcement, Mayor Jason Klein put it this way:
"This outdoor gym and studio, supported by a free App, further expands our Fitness Initiative Together (F.I.T.) program and builds upon the village's priority to offer fitness opportunities for all ages and fitness abilities."
The Village's own materials don't agree on whether this court is a county first. The event page calls it Westchester County's first National Fitness Campaign Fitness Court. The press release calls it the second Fitness Court in Westchester and the first with a Studio. The press release is correct. Mount Vernon opened a Fitness Court at Hartley Park, 255 Gramatan Avenue, on November 29, 2023. News 12 Westchester covered that ribbon-cutting the same day. Rye Brook's claim is the Studio, the pad for group classes that the Mount Vernon court doesn't have.
What the Village hasn't published yet
Three practical questions are still open as of the ceremony week.
- Hours. The launch materials don't list regular opening hours or a full set of court rules. They say only that the court is free, open to ages 14 and up, and needs no orientation.
- Classes. Both the release and the brochure describe a studio that can host classes. Neither gives a date for a Studio class or a new F.I.T. session.
- Parking. The Village hasn't posted parking directions for the court itself. For the Harkness tennis courts and the Athletic Field, the brochure says to park in the Blind Brook High School lot and walk over. That's the closest official guidance, but it was written for the tennis courts and fields.
For questions, the release points to the Rye Brook Village Administrator's Office at 914-939-0111. The brochure was printed before the opening date was set. It still says the court "will open this fall," with a ceremony in "September or October," so the release is the more current document.
The sponsor's quote looks further ahead. The release says Sunrise will soon break ground on an approved senior living community at 900 King Street, across the road from the court, with roughly 230 rental residences split among independent living suites, assisted living suites and townhomes. David Murphy, Sunrise's SVP of Hospitality, called the court "a perfect extension" of that vision. The release gives no groundbreaking or completion date.
The court's first month, next to a fully scheduled October
The Village's other fall programs run on a calendar. Almost all of them are at Pine Ridge Park, 17 Mohegan Lane, and each has a set start time:
- October 10, 9 to 11 a.m.: Pumpkin Patch on Pine Ridge Park's old field. It's for Rye Brook residents, and the number of pumpkins for sale is limited.
- October 10, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Food Truck Festival at Pine Ridge Park, with a bounce house, face-painting and music.
- October 23, 5:30 p.m.: The Town of Rye's free Halloween Festival at Crawford Park. Trunk or Treat runs until 6:30, then Toy Story 5 starts, and the Crawford Mansion hosts a "Red, White & Boo" walk-through.
- October 24, 10:30 a.m. to noon: Howloween at Pine Ridge Park, with a dog costume parade at 11:15, prizes and adoptable pets to meet.
- October 28, 6 p.m.: The Village Trunk and Treat at Pine Ridge Park. Village departments decorate their vehicles, and residents vote for a favorite so that department gets bragging rights until next year.
- November 7, 10 a.m. to noon: Pumpkin Smash at Pine Ridge Park.
Every item on that list happens once, at a set time, somewhere other than King Street. The Fitness Court has no time slot, no sign-up and no league schedule. After the ribbon-cutting on October 5, its first full month overlaps exactly with this run of events. For the rest of the fall, the stations and studio pad at 840 King Street will be the one Village recreation spot you can use whenever you have half an hour, with no reservation and no permit.
If you're adding the new court to a weekday routine and wondering how King Street's recreation strip affects homes nearby, Chris Tulotta is glad to talk it through, without any sales pitch. Let's Connect.
