Madison Square Park Benefit

Madison Square Park is a case study in urban park renewal. When the Gotham Gal and I moved to NYC in 1983, we used to live right down the street from the park. And we’d walk through it during the day and wonder why it was so downtrodden. We wouldn’t walk through the park at night.

Almost ten years ago, Danny Meyer and a group of donors, including us, went into partnership with the NYC Parks Dept and rebuilt the park and created a conservancy to keep it up. The result has been nothing short of amazing. I’ve blogged a bunch about the park, including the Shake Shack
and numerous festivals they have there. It’s become a hub of activity day and night and everytime I walk into the park I am filled with pride and joy for that.

Last night the conservancy held its annual fundrasier in the park featuring many of the best restaurants in the neighborhood who set up stalls, ala jazzfest. We went from one stall to the next sampling some wonderful food.

But the best part was this bluegrass band they had called City Grass. I caught them here doing a bluegrass cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. Excellent stuff.