Central Park’s Great Lawn has been closed by officials due to damages caused by concert-goers last month at Global Citizen Festival. According to the Central Park Conservancy, the beloved section of the park won’t be open again until April 2024, after repairs can be made.
Held on September 23rd and headlined by Lauryn Hill, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Jungkook, this year’s Global Citizen Festival was subject to a large amount of rain, which impacted turnout (only about half of the typical 60,000 attendees were present), but also resulted in an inch of rain water flooding the park. That, combined with the heavy equipment used for the production and the 30,000 fans who decided to brave the weather, made for a perfect storm (pun intended).
Now, according to The New York Times, officials are estimating that up to a third of the Great Lawn is “fully destroyed,” with some folks — like New York Councilwoman Gale Brewer — claiming that repair costs could exceed $1 million (though the New York City Parks Department has clarified that the damage has yet to be fully assessed).
Brewer has even written a letter to New York mayor, Eric Adams, asking for the Global Citizen Festival to no longer be allowed in Central Park. Criticizing the festival’s decision to go “full speed ahead despite torrential rain,” she requested that, in the future, it is hosted at a “venue other than Central Park, such as an arena or stadium.”
For their part, a spokesperson from Global Citizen Festival claimed that it was officials from the city itself who gave the go-ahead to host the festival despite the rain. “This year’s rainfall meant closer alignment with City agencies and stakeholders than ever before,” the statement read. “In the months leading up to the festival on September 23rd, and daily in the week before the event, we worked closely with the NYC Mayor’s Office, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, Office of Emergency Management, NYPD, FDNY, and the Central Park Conservancy. Ultimately, the City of New York, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Central Park Conservancy determined that this year’s festival should go ahead.”
Continuing, the statement declared that Global Citizen not only pays a “fee” to use the park, but will also work with the Central Park Conservancy to “assess and cover the costs of any damage.”
The Great Lawn was completed in the 1930s, and has remained an iconic location in New York ever since. The lawn is typically closed from November through April each year, anyway, but this year’s damages spurred that closure to happen six weeks early… meaning New Yorkers will be deprived of their beloved autumn time in the park throughout the temperate weeks of October.
