This day and age, lots of children aren’t strangers to playground animals. Most with goofy expressions, mounted on springs that allow children to sway to and fro with glee. Until they’re violently thrown due to too much exuberance, or simply tire of the action. But back in the day, a lot of playground animals were made of stone. Finely sculpted statues that were posed low enough to the ground for children to climb upon. Over time, these friendly statues were considered impractical, replaced with their plastic counterparts, and apathetically discarded. But such sweet sculptures don’t deserve such treatment.
Which is why Flushing Meadows Corona Park has opened a “retirement” home where the remaining statues can live out their days peacefully.
A Peaceful Retreat For Friendly Stone
”At NYC Parks, our civil servants take many forms: not only park workers but also the beloved concrete animals children have been playing on for decades in our playgrounds across the city,” NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue said in an affectionate statement. “We’re so excited to unveil this new contemplative space in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, as we send some of our hardest-working employees into retirement in style. We hope that despite their retirement, they will continue to inspire imagination and creativity in parkgoers into the future.”
The first residents of the park include a stone camel, elephant, two dolphins, a frog, and an anteater. And an official retirement party was held last Friday. Hence, the party hats. Former parks commissioner Henry Stern is responsible for the addition of stone animals to NYC parks. Under the order that all new parks should include an animal. But years passed, and the statues lost their meaning and purpose. It’s sweet that Corona Park can reinstate them in a place of appreciation and love.
No climbing, however. These are old fellows and they deserve the rest.
