How do you track how many people enter a public park? In the case of New York’s newest park, the Highline, the answer was to guess.
Co-Founder Joshua David, Deb Hauser, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Richard Conolly, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, City Planning Chair Amanda Burden, and Zach and Lexi Hauser. Photo by Joan Garvin
The next generation of New York city public parks arrived in the form of Highline Park last June, a mile-and-a-half-long park elevated several stories above the ground. There are places to sit and soak in the rays, a stand where local vendors can apply for a temporary 29-day concessionaire permit to sell food and drinks, and a stunning array of flowers and trees lining an extremely metropolitan concrete walkway.
My first thought upon arriving at the Highline last summer was, “Weird.” But it grows on you. There’s the viewing window over 10th Avenue at 17th Street, where you can watch the traffic fly up town. There’s the Diller-Von Furstenberg Sundeck and Water Feature, where I envied all the people who had arrived before me and snagged one of those lounging sun chairs and were soaking up the mid-summer rays (you can take the girl out of the beach but you can’t take the beach out of the girl!).
I couldn’t help being struck by just how clean the place was. Where I’m from, a state park is sandy and dirty and rugged; you couldn’t take a stroll in Seashore State Park with your Jimmy Choos with the stiletto heels. But in spite of my conflicting views on what a state park “should” be like, I couldn’t help but to enjoy immensely my time at Highline, which would help to explain the approximate 2 million visitors the Highline has received since it opened.
The official title of “2 Millionth Visitor” was actually awarded to two people: Zach and Lexi Hauser (above) — a brother, 12, and sister, 9, who were visiting from North Carolina. However, since the park has no formal way of recording its visitors, this title was formed at random. As reported in the NY Post, park workers have been casually counting visitors since its opening, and since the count had finally reached around 2 million, park workers randomly decided to pick the kids out of the park crowd to be the “co-2 millionth” visitors.
The event was commemorated by a tree-planting ceremony and the kids and their mother were awarded a plaque. Zach commented (and seems to share my opinion of the park!) that “It’s fun. This park is really cool. It will probably be the highlight of my trip. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Lexi said that she liked the tree they planted, especially its purple buds.
The flowers are blooming and the trees have leaves again, so if you haven’t left your apartment all day, head over to the Highline to see New York’s take on nature!
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