Earth Day is this Saturday April 22: Look what’s happening in Central Park. I haven’t even checked Prospect Park yet.
The Central Park Conservancy will be rolling out the green carpet in Central Park for a free, family-oriented Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 22, from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm. Encompassing live theater, music, a treasure hunt, planting and mulching, and special walking tours, and many other activities, Earth Day 2006’s festivities will be one of the biggest observances of the day in the Park to date and will coincide with the Conservancy’s yearlong 25th Anniversary celebration.
Activities and interactive exhibits in the Park will focus on several natural elements, including water, soil, and air, as well as wildlife. Water will be the subject of the day’s featured entertainment at the Bandshell: City That Drinks the Mountain Sky. This will be presented by Arm-of-the-Sea Theater, which has been developing and producing large-scale puppet theater with socially and environmentally conscious messages for over 20 years. The story of the development of New York City’s water system will be told through poetry, puppetry, and music. Celebrants can expect plenty of visual punch and timely wit as the production traces life’s quintessential liquid, from mountaintop to city tap.
In addition to City that Drinks the Mountain Sky, parents and children can enjoy an educational Family Treasure Hunt. They can test their deciphering skills with this creative treasure hunt designed to reveal some surprising facts about Central Park. Prizes will be awarded to winners. Labyrinista Ariane Burgess will help visitors get the most out of her circular peace path, a labyrinth designed especially for Central Park’s Earth Day Celebration.
Those interested in learning more about the 843-acre green oasis designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux can join one of the free walking tours that will be offered on Earth Day. The Conservancy’s Teen Docents, a group of New York City high school students who write and conduct walking tours in Central Park, will lead a tour of the Hallett Nature Sanctuary. This 3.5-acre refuge for wildlife, surrounded on three sides by the 59th Street Pond, is normally closed to the public. Other tours will include The Elms of the Mall, The Minton Tiles, and The Conservatory Garden.
Avid and budding gardeners will be able to get their hands dirty with planting projects near the Mother Goose statue at Rumsey Playfield (behind the Bandshell), or by spreading mulch, which ameliorates the soil, in the Memorial Grove just south of Rumsey. A little farther north at the North Meadow Recreation Center, located mid-park at 97th Street, the Conservancy will be teaching beginners how to rock climb. Live music provided by Paprika, arts & crafts, and face painting will be offered throughout the day.
I don’t know what will be doing for Earth Day in Prospect Park this year, Louise, but this post made me get out my 1970 diary. If this is not too cheesy, here’s an excerpt from the entry for Wednesday, April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day:
A warm & sunny Earth Day. Mark called & asked me to come with him to the Union Square rally. Mayor Lindsay closed off 5th Ave. & 14th St. to traffic & the crowds were enormous. But I didn’t feel like getting into so big a crowd & went by myself to the smaller Prospect Park rally.
I parked the car on 8th Ave. & walked to the meadow. A singing group called the Smubbs, dressed as pigs, sang about pollution. They also sang a song to the tune of “Give My Regards to Broadway” that was “Give my regards to Brooklyn / Remember me to Bartel Pritchard Square.”
Then Gov. Rockefeller made a speech saying, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the pollution.” He had a lot of trouble with hecklers…
Walking back to the car when the rally ended ended, I was stunned to see Rocky waving to me from a bicycle! Too bad I’d used up all my film.
Dad came home and said he was booed by the crowd as he drove through the streets near Union Square and people banged on his Cadillac. The TV reports said the crowds were disappointing. It remains to be seen what will be done about our environment.