The Great Lawn, the 12-acre oval of green space that is one of the most popular gathering places in Central Park, will be closed to the public until April after it was damaged during a concert late last month, the Central Park Conservancy confirmed on Tuesday.
The concert, the Global Citizen Festival, typically brings about 60,000 people to Central Park each year. It was held this year on Sept. 23 and drew a crowd about half its usual size, despite a heavy rainstorm that dropped about an inch of rain on the park.
The heavy equipment used to put on the concert and the foot traffic it attracted caused extensive damage during the downpour, and “fully destroyed” a third of the lawn, the Central Park Conservancy, which manages the park, said in a statement.
“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 statement said.
The Great Lawn is closed each year from mid-November to April for routine maintenance, but the damage from the festival prompted the conservancy to close it at least six weeks early during a stretch of temperate weather.
Councilwoman Gale Brewer, whose district includes Central Park, estimated the repairs would cost up to $1 million, but the New York City Parks Department and the conservancy both said that the damage had yet to be fully assessed.
Global Citizen is an advocacy organization with the goal of ending global poverty,
