Pillow pandemonium is a hit

[media-credit name=”Photos by Bob Krasner ” align=”alignleft” width=”600″][/media-credit]

As signs of spring go, the first robin is fine, but watching the feathers fly at the Seventh Annual Pillow Fight Day is a whole lot more fun. The event occurred in Washington Square Park, plus in 150 cities around the world. In the Greenwich Village park, most pillow pugilists chose to fight alone when the horn blew promptly at 3 p.m., pummeling complete strangers with weapons of varying size and durability. Some formed alliances as they suddenly found a mutual target. A cry of “Get the green man!” was all it took for a man wearing a green mask, plus rabbit ears for Easter, to be walloped by the mob. And the guy with the cheesy grin yelling, “War is wrong!” in the middle of the crowd was just asking for it. Bunny ears and pajamas were wardrobe suggestions from Newmindspace, the event’s organizer, and many came dressed accordingly. The occasional suit of armor (not a bad idea) was also spotted. Organizers claimed there were 5,000 people in the park. But according to Martin Baranski, Sixth Precinct community affairs officer, there were no more than 2,000 people at the pillow fight at once. He also said that cleanup, by volunteers, went very well and the event caused no problems.