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Even in spite of the rain, the Light Cycle fireworks display went ahead. Of course, with so many fireworks, many residents called up 911 and 311 to ask what had happened, concerned and worried.
The event was sponsored by Haagen-Dazs. Gothamist doubts they will make a "Central Park Light Cycle" flavor - that's more Ben & Jerry's turf.
Updated: Reader rb gives us footage of the Ring (rb notes "supposed" ring). Why can Gothamist only think about "Before you die, you see the ring"?
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The drenching was actually very enjoyable in a quintessential New York way, with Upper West Siders hurredly packing up their blankets and pate, Brooklyn hip kids playing Capture The Flag in the wet grass and many daters holding hands under umbrellas.
They did stop the fireworks midway though.
And then a couple thousand angrily soaked people stood on The Sheep Meadow until they sent Park rangers out to tell us to go home.
my friends and i didnt see any halo in the sky, and neither did any of the people with us along the northeastern edge of the reservoir...tho a quote in the ny times article states:
"I think the ring over the reservoir was truly phenomenal," he said...
so odd...
I was on the northeastern edge of the reservoir, and I did see the ring briefly. It started at about 7 o'clock, from where I was standing (roughly 95th St level) and worked up through 9,10,11,12 so you had the left-hand side quite clearly defined. Then there were a few flurries around 2 o'clock, and then one or two shells going off around the sort of mid-afternoon level, just in time that the original stuff in mid-morning hadn't completely faded. So for a brief fraction of a second, I could actually see the whole ring. But it wasn't as impressive as the noise. I think this is actually the third in a row that this Cai guy has done which didn't go according to plan: no one saw the "river of fire" along the Thames for Y2K, and no one saw the "bridge of fire" across the East River for MoMA QNS. They all just saw fireworks, really.
It was more like a great fizzle, though the whole artillery barrage bit was cool (I don't think that the avian population of Central Park shared my opinion, as my father and I observed a great many birds getting the hell outta Dodge when the first circle started to get fired up).
There was one kinda raggedy loop, and then it looked like they only fired off half of the fireworks for the really big one (which was kinda a fizzle) -- also, from the previous press descriptions, it sounded like the entire circle was going to be set off at the same time, which turned out not to be the case (at least for the half-circle that was fired off).
Wet as I got in the rain, though, I didn't envy those who were sitting on the grass, eating their rained-on take-out barbeque.
i think we were definitely at a bad vantage point then...all we saw were random fire bursts. that...and we were right next to the launchers (that we couldnt see in the dark til it was too late)...ouch.
What was up with all of the dog owners who decided to bring out their pets? Even a callous hearted person like myself couldn't help feeling bad for the pets who were obviously in pain with the incredible volume the fireworks generated.
Probably the same kind of people who think it's ok to keep a golden retreiver in a 400 sq. ft. studio and who don't share their BBQ leftovers with their dogs.
oh, i left my comments on last night at the other gothamist post
i want my money back.
It basically sucked. Who in their right mind would have the circle (?) facing east/west as opposed to north/south. So instead of all the people who marched out in the rain the only people who got it head on were Mia and Woody and their like (ie. Apts on the Park). Of course maybe it was aligned N/S and just didnt work. And no colors- Total Waste of Time
that might have been the biggest letdown of my life.
What is "call 991?"
my friend said he saw people running in the streets pannicked and crying not knowing if it was an attack or what b/c they had no idea. he said he barely heard about it that morning, which is why he was yelling that it was fireworks so they'd calm down.
Here's some video I shot from East 106th, a less than ideal vantage point. Still, the display seemed pretty weak -- like it was the big finale at the Illinois State Fair or something. To make up for the lameness of the event, the video clip runs backwards.
felix,
correction re: the rainbow for moma qns...
that went according to plan, saw it in it's entirety and looked beautiful (for about 5 seconds).
Seriously though, was it the rain or was it really that much a case of overwhelmingly empty hype?? Did they end up with a huge amount of unused shells because I just can't believe that was the whole thing. Also, I loved how it rained for a total of five minutes yesterday-- almost precisely from 7:45 to 7:50.
Actually, I was at the 72nd street ramp to the reservoir, and the display was beautiful. It's an absolutely fair criticism to say the display was poorly oriented, but when you saw it as intended, it was actually beautiful.
Maybe they should have distributed BBQ to make everyone happy.
Before you die, you see the ribs?
This is a great Blog!