Central Park’s Great Lawn Closed Until April Due To Damage From Rain-Drenched Global Citizen Festival

deadline.com:

Central Park‘s 12-acre Great Lawn will be closed to the public until April due to extensive damage caused during last month’s rain-soaked Global Citizen Festival, the Central Park Conservancy said today. “The Central Park Conservancy is very disappointed that the iconic Great Lawn is now closed and unavailable for New Yorkers to enjoy this fall,” the Conservancy said in a statement released today. “The use of heavy equipment and intense foot traffic in the saturated conditions from the September 23 concert damaged a large portion of the lawn and fully destroyed a third of it.

Our team is now working to restore the lawn, hopefully in time to reopen this spring.” Attended by about 30,000 people – about half the usual audience size due to heavy rain – the annual concert is a major fundraising event for Global Citizen, the anti-poverty organization.

This year’s concert included performances by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lauryn Hill, among others. The Lawn is typically roped off from the public during winter and early-spring months for maintenance, but the damage from the concert has necessitated an early close of about six weeks.

According to The New York Times, repairs from the damage could tally up to $1 million. The city’s Parks Department released a statement today saying, “While we share New Yorkers’ frustration, we have had a positive relationship with the Global Citizen Festival producers and are confident any damages will be remedied expeditiously.” Global Citizen also responded to the closure news, releasing a statement reading, in part, that it had worked closely with city officials in the lead-up to the concert to determine whether the event should proceed this year. “This year’s rainfall meant closer