In the past two months Foley Square has traded heavy heat for crisp breezes–I have the cold to prove it–but also photo happy tourists for jumping stilters and conceptual artists. Yep, this little patch of concrete elicits a variety of types not just federal employees and legal professionals from the nearby courthouses and government offices. Each day we welcome public to the booth, we’re not quite sure who will be milling around just outside our bright box in the shadow of Lorenzo Pace’s grand granite sculpture, “The Triumph of the Human Spirit.”
Some days we’re met by incorrigible skateboarders who define rebellion as skating across our accessible ramp after we’ve told them not to (a wild bunch, they are) but on other days we are witnesses to some of the unique recreational and cultural pursuits that in their concentration distinguish New York City from so many other spots across the globe.
Just two Saturdays ago, some jumping stilters compared hang times while even the most disaffected skateboarders sat in awed observation. That same day two members of Abyssinian Baptist Church, longtime friends and media professionals, spotted some jazz friends, twin dancers, outside our windows and proceeded to have a brief and boisterous reunion in our reception area. And just this morning Main Street Meltdown, an ice carving of the word “Economy,” melted in the foreground of our glass and aluminum perch, the project of artists Nora Ligarano and Marshall Reese. So a visit to the Foley Square StoryBooth provides not just the opportunity to tell your story and pass it on, but to rack up some new ones.
October 29th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I’ve got to get me a pair of “stilters.” That video is too much. It’s so nice to hear about Foley Square in the fall. I am missing autumn in New York and facilitating at LMN!
October 29th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
what a great primer on the idiosyncratic entertainment and interactions available at foley square.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:38 am
I’ve got to get me a pair of stilters too! I was pretty mean with the pogo stick in elementary school. I’d pogo while jumping double dutch, which unfortunately didn’t help my squad at the city championships. That said, I still think I could shine as a jumping stilter.