It was not long ago that Bryant Park had an ice rink full of skaters and people keeping warm in own igloos, sipping on hot chocolates.
But it is a different world now at the park, which is located between Fifth and Sixth avenues from 40th and 42nd streets in Manhattan. That is because the popular 1.4-acre lawn has returned, soon to open to the public.
What You Need To Know
- Bryant Park is located between Fifth and Sixth avenues from 40th and 42nd streets in Manhattan
- The park transitions twice each year, featuring a lawn when it is warm and an ice rink when it is cold
- Installing the sod in the park takes about nine hours after three days of preparing the topsoil
“When the lawn goes in, it looks like it’s been summer for the whole time,” Dan Biederman, the executive director and president of Bryant Park Corporation, said.
Without a lawn or an ice rink, the center of Bryant Park looks quite barren, with only a thin layer of topsoil. It is only around two yards above the New York Public Library’s Milstein Research Stacks, which is located right below the park.
The sod used for Bryant Park’s lawn is grown in New Jersey, brought in rolls and laid out on the topsoil. It is a nine-hour process, and when it is done, it needs time to take root.
“Usually it takes us about a month to feel like we have a sturdy lawn that will be ready for folks to use,” Dan Fishman, the vice president of public events of Bryant Park Corporation, said.
Once that happens, Bryant Park becomes a spring and summer destination with a variety of activities.
“We’ll have a stage here which has our screen for our iconic Bryant Park movie night series. We have our picnic performances presented by Bank of America. We have yoga classes on the lawn and then of course we just have a lawn that people can relax and sit all throughout the summer,” Fishman said.
Bryant Park is pictured as the Manhattan skyline is seen in the background. (NY1/Roger Clark)
It is all part of what has been a more than 40-year effort by the Bryant Park Corporation, the nonprofit private management company founded in 1980 to renovate and operate the park. The park is now an oasis for New Yorkers and visitors from around the world.
Biederman has been part of that effort since the beginning, helping transform the park to a place people wanted to be in every season.
“People really, they write to us about how they feel restored because they are back in the summer version of Bryant Park,” Biederman said.
The lawn will be around through the first weekend in October, until it is removed and becomes compost. Then, the park once again makes its transition to the winter months.
