BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC | The long-awaited SeaGlass carousel in Battery Park will open this Memorial Day.
“This harsh winter has posed some obstacles,” but the carousel is expected to open at the end of May, said Anna Morrison, executive assistant to the president of the Battery Conservancy.
The $16 million SeaGlass carousel boasts 30 hydraulic fiberglass fish — some as large as 9 feet tall.
Morrison was giving an update on the various Battery Park projects to Community Board 1’s Financial District Committee at their Wed., Mar. 4 meeting.
“Despite this harsh winter we’ve been having, we’ve been making meaningful strides in our capital projects,” she said. “And we’re hoping as the weather warms up a bit, we’ll be able to move even faster.”
Work continues on the bikeway that will connect the Hudson and East River paths. The Battery Oval will open this fall and will be populated by the “battery chair.” The Battery Conservancy launched an international competition in mid-2012 that called for chair designs. The winner was the Fluert, a bright-blue chair designed by Andrew Jones from Toronto, Canada.
For the first time, there will be a “forest farm” in Manhattan, said Morrison. The forest farm will focus of plants that thrive in the shade — mushrooms, ferns, berries and the paw paw, which is mango-like, she explained.
The programming is to begin April 1. It also includes a student farmers program and an expanded field trip program that affords children the opportunity to learn about organic gardening, healthy eating and the history of the park as well as the city, she said.
