Saturday and Sunday are the last two days to see orange drapes in Central Park. My husband has spent much of the last two weeks there. Day and night, in fair weather and snow, he’s been photographing The Gates, amassing an amazing collection of shots.

So what happens after The Gates leave the Park? Well, I’ll get my husband back for one thing. But first he’ll be out there phographing the dismantling of The Gates — and that should be a site to see.

It turns out that all the materials will be recycled: The steel bases are to be melted and recast as rods for reinforcing concrete, steel plates or steel coils.

The aluminum corners and base sleeves are to be recycled for gutters and aluminum sheeting.

The vinyl frames will be fed into large-capacity grinders and become products such as PVC pipe, fences, tool handles or the inner cores of paint rollers.

The ripstop nylon curtains will go back to being nylon thread.

I hope they leave at least one of The Gates up in the park, a reminder of a very unusual, art-crazed February in our city.

Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB