Brooklyn Bridge Park may not be a national park system (NPS), but that didn’t preclude the National Park Service from kicking off their birthday week on Monday for their 100th anniversary of their founding.
President Woodrow Wilson signed the agency, which is responsible for maintaining federal parks, into law on August 25, 1916.
For myself, I found out that the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are both part of the NPS and there are other locations right in New York City itself.
As a lifelong resident of Downtown Brooklyn, I sauntered down to Brooklyn Bridge Park for the event in the afternoon and stayed there until it finished at 10 p.m.
Once there, a National Park Ranger told me that the National Parks Foundation funded the event as well as others around the country. All of the rangers were great in explaining things and when I needed a pen, a particular ranger just gave me one. She said that Park Rangers always need to come prepared.
There were various partnerships involved in this event, and an important partnership was with the Thomas Edison National Historic Park. For example, I made a necklace by pouring colored sand into a little “lightbulb” shaped object. This connected with The Thomas Edison theme/connection (because Thomas Edison invented the modern use of electricity).
The culmination of the day was both fun and historic, when a ranger told me that they wanted to bring Thomas Edison’s innovation into the next 100 years of the National Parks Service. So, with the participation of celebrity, “Bill Nye, the science guy,” for the first time ever in New York City, the Freedom Tower became lit in color through an interactive game, where people stepped in a certain way on a giant digital circuit board. After this first historic feat, the same thing was done repeatedly, with different colors and the general public was allowed to participate. Some people preferred to just dance, as this interactive activity was accompanied by music.
During the day, I also had free ice cream, at the beautiful and historic ice cream place, near the music barge, and answered a “Trivia” question and was rewarded with a choice of prizes. ( I chose sunglasses). Later on, I danced to the live music of the Atlas Genius Band.
For more events and info on the National Park Service Centennial anniversary week click here.
