After several spring fakeouts, New Yorkers are ready for the real thing.

New York City has gotten several stretches of warm weather so far this year, prompting New Yorkers to shed their layers after a brutally cold and snowy winter — only to put them back on. Just last weekend, temperatures reaching 73 degrees beckoned New Yorkers to sprawl out on picnic blankets at park across the city.

Then temperatures dropped back down to the mid-50s over the last several days, with some mornings in the low 30s. Some donned shorts and short sleeves in the frigid cold to defy Mother Nature’s indecision. Others had to unpack their hats and gloves.

“I deal with it, you know? It’s just hard, kind of hard to dress for it sometimes,” said Brooklynite Tony James, who was sitting on a bench in Fort Greene Park on Thursday enjoying a sunny 50-degree morning.

It’s often said that April is the cruelest month because the weather toys with our emotions, but according to the National Weather Service, it could be getting a little kinder over the next few days. After a cool weekend, temperatures start to climb Monday into the 70s, where they’ll stay through at least Thursday.

Seizing on the glimmer of hope, we asked New Yorkers what they were most looking forward to this spring.

Magnolias in Fort Greene.

Catalina Gonella / Gothamist

“It  brings people out makes people a little bit more, friendlier, warmer. I mean, it hypes people up a lot, too — a lot of craziness goes on,” James said. “But one of my biggest things is seeing more diversity in New York and just seeing the blend of culture come out and then the trees of course.”

“ It’s really beautiful to walk here, especially after the winter we had, to see all the flowers coming up. That’s what I like the best,” said Nina Haritos. She and her husband, Abby Weissman, both 72, were walking their dog Murphy through Fort Greene Park.

There are the New York City spring blooms, of course, and then there are spring veggies — like spinach and arugula. That’s what Weissman said he’s looking forward to.

“The farmer’s market has nothing good in the winter, so it’s getting better already, and we go every Saturday,” he said.

Fort Greene resident Walter Alarcone, 44, was finishing up a tennis session at the courts in the park on Thursday — something he wasn’t able to do for weeks while they were covered in snow and ice this winter. He said it’s been a relief to get to shed his layers and get back on the courts. And as a new dad, he’s looking forward to leaving the traveling mountain of cold-weather gear at home.

“ Being able to walk with a baby without having to put her in like five layers is like really exciting and exciting for me and my wife and baby,” he said.

Bushwick resident William Pino, 85, said spring and fall are his favorite seasons, because “summer is too hot and winter is too cold.”

Tony James in Fort Greene Park

Catalina Gonella / Gothamist

He was enjoying a walk back home from the grocery store through Maria Hernandez Park and said he and his wife are looking forward to spring blooms and spending more time outside.

“ I love to walk, I want to walk around here in the spring,” he said. “My wife likes flowers. She’s always planting things, you know. So she’s looking forward to spring.”

What we’re going to enjoy this spring

We asked our colleagues at New York Public Radio for the things they look forward to most about spring.

“The brief period where apartment windows can be fully open,” said Zach Gottehrer-Cohen, producer on WNYC’s “All of It” and “The Brian Lehrer Show.”

Nina Haritos, her husband Abby Weissman and their dog Murphy in Fort Greene Park.

Catalina Gonella / Gothamist

Zora Kings, NYPR’s marketing and audience development coordinator, said she’s most excited about outdoor dining: “Gotta love eating good food, drinking a Hugo spritz and soaking in the warm sun.”

Baseball, biking and birding were among the most popular spring pursuits for our colleagues at our offices on Varick Street.

Maggie Stapleton, WQXR’s music director, said she’s looking forward to “biking without gloves and a parka!” Luke Green, an associate producer for “All of It with Allison Stewart,” said he’s “planning to do a ride following the Rockaway Beach Branch abandoned tracks in Queens.”

Others praised those magical days when the city’s hockey, baseball and basketball teams are all playing simultaneously. Walking, picnicking, grilling in public, day-drinking, visiting Daffodil Hill at New York Botanical Garden, spring fashions, dogs basking, birds singing and myriad blooms and blossoms were among our favorites as well.

Iice cream shop Island Pops owner Shelly Marshall.

Catalina Gonella / Gothamist

But few people are looking forward to warmer weather than ice cream shop Island Pops owner Shelly Marshall, who said business slows down around Labor Day and doesn’t pick back up until April.

“It’s really a struggle in the winter,” she said. “In the summer, we save like 15 cents out of every dollar that helps us in the winter, but the winter still needs to be a good winter for that to work, and this winter really stretched us.”

Marshall said on colder months, her sales can be a fifth of what they are on warmer months. As the weather warms up, she’s expecting a rush of people ready to cool off with one of her seasonal items.

“I think because winter was not gentle on anyone, people are especially looking forward to this summer,” she said.