Prospect Park

The Daily Plant : Thursday, January 10, 2002

MULCHFEST 2002

Photo by Malcolm (Cinema) Pinckney

On Saturday, January 5, Mayor Michael R. (Network) Bloomberg, made his first appearance at a Parks event since taking office to help Commissioner Henry J. (StarQuest) Stern load Christmas trees into the chipper at Prospect Park, Brooklyn. At Mulchfest 2002, 2,400 trees were chipped at 6 locations throughout the city to turn dead trees into food, fodder, and insulation for trees, gardens and lawns.

For the sixth year in a row row, environmentally-minded New Yorkers had the opportunity to bring their Christmas trees to Mulchfest 2002. The byproduct of everyone's hard work, the woodchips, have great use in parks, on streets and even in your own garden. Chips insulate the soil around the base of the tree, reduce soil compaction, increase moisture and prevent salt-shock. Wood chips can also be used in homes and gardens to enrich soil, control weeds, and make for beautiful landscaping.

The bulk of the 2,400 trees that were chipped came from the neighbors surrounding Prospect Park and throughout the borough. Brooklyn's flagship park chipped around 1,200 trees and expect to chip at least another 300 this week as local residents keep dropping dead trees off around the perimeter of the park. Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, Cunningham Park in Queens, the Greenbelt Nature Conservancy, and Tompkins Square Park and Riverside Park in Manhattan where the other sites for chipping mania.

Read the original press release for Mulchfest 2002.

Winter Festival 2002 has been postponed due to the predicted warm weather. The event, originally scheduled for Saturday, January 12, will now be held on Saturday, February 9 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. This free festival takes place on the Central Park’s East Meadow at 99^th Street and 5^th Avenue. This event offers New Yorkers the rare opportunity to participate in a variety of winter sports usually relegated to more frigid climates.

(Thursday, January 19, 1989)

Wielding a gold sledgehammer and wearing a bright green Parks hard hat, Mayor Edward I. Koch came prepared to break ground last Tuesday at the St. Mary’s Recreation Center in the Bronx.

On the count of the three, the mayor took a swing at a concrete wall in the gym which will soon be knocked down as part of a $5.8 million Phase I capital project to renovate the center. Other renovations at the three-story recreation center will include the installation of new bleachers, drinking fountains, gymnastic and weight lifting equipment, and a Universal Gym system.

A tree’s a tree. How many more do you need to look at?

Ronald Reagan
September 12, 1965

(Reagan later denied having made this statement)