Central Park, Oct 19–25: seven sunny days, two fall foliage photo walks, and the marathon build begins

Friday’s email ran through the 23rd, so the midweek will be familiar — the weekend is new.

        Friday’s email ran through the 23rd, so the midweek will be familiar — the weekend is new.

Seven consecutive sunny days, 59–66°, with almost no rain in any of them. It is the best full week of weather since the first week of October and the foliage has arrived to meet it — there are two Fall Foliage Photo Walks on Saturday. Meanwhile the marathon’s three-week build-out has started across the finish-line end of the park.

Weather this week

Sunny or mostly sunny every single day: 65°, 66°, 62°, 66°, 61°, 59°. Rain chances run 0–12%. Nights drop to 44–51°, so mornings are properly cold and the light through the middle of the day is as good as it gets all year.

The marathon build has started — but the drives are open

The city’s permit for the TCS New York City Marathon went live this week, and it runs October 18 through November 10 across twenty-one locations: West, East and Center Drive, Tavern on the Green, Bethesda Terrace, Bow Bridge, Belvedere Castle and the rest of the finish-line apparatus.

That is a build-and-strike envelope, not three weeks of closure. Expect scaffolding, fencing, trailers and staging to appear and thicken across the west side and the Tavern on the Green area over the fortnight. The drives are not closed this week. The actual closures are:

  Saturday Oct 31 — Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K, 8:45–11 AM
  Sunday Nov 1 — the marathon itself, 8 AM–5 PM, 55,000 runners

Mon Oct 19 – Thu Oct 22 — quiet, bright, and two small civic moments

Weekdays carry soccer training, school programmes and the standing Arsenal exhibits. Nothing is in anyone’s way, and the drives are clear.

  Tuesday, 4–5 PM: bench dedication for Bruce Rosenfeld at the Central Park Zoo.
  Wednesday, 6:30–9:30 PM: the City Parks Foundation dinner at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre — the organisation behind SummerStage, holding its dinner in a puppet theatre, which is a pleasing thing to know happens.
  Bird Watching with Birding Bob rotates again: Strawberry Fields Monday, Loeb Boathouse Thursday, the Conservatory Garden Friday.

Tuesday and Thursday are both 66° and sunny — the pick of the week.

Fri Oct 23 — the North Woods

Central Park Woodland Walk: The North Woods meets at the Dana Discovery Center at 10 AM. 61° and sunny. The park’s wildest end, with a guide, in peak colour.

Iconic Views tour at 2 PM.

Sat Oct 24 — two foliage photo walks, and a fun run at the Bandshell

Two Fall Foliage Photo Walks: one from The Pool, 9:30–11:30 AM, and one from Boys’ Gate at 10 AM. The north end in late October, with someone showing you where to point a camera — this is the single best-timed thing on the autumn calendar.

  Ronald McDonald House Fun Run stages at Bandshell Plaza and Dead Road North, 8 AM–2 PM. Six hours; the Mall will be busy, though the drives stay open.
  Free Yoga and CPC Yoga both on East Meadow at 11 AM.
  Model Yacht Racing at Kerbs, 9 AM–3 PM; UnityMarketsNY at Farmers’ Gate, 9–7.
  Awareness Meetup for Namrud Wegahta Tessema at Ross Pinetum, 3–6 PM.

59° and sunny. East Meadow closed.

Sun Oct 25 — rocks, marionettes, and the North Woods again

A genuinely good family Sunday:

  Geology: Central Park Rocks! at the Harlem Meer, 1–2 PM — the glacial history of the park, which is more interesting than it sounds and visible once someone points it out.
  Pinocchio and Geppetto’s NYC Adventure at the Diana Ross Playground, 2–3 PM — note the venue, not the Swedish Cottage this time.
  Woodland Walk: The North Woods repeats at 10 AM from Dana Discovery Center.
  Seneca Village Tour at 2 PM; Iconic Views at 2 PM.
  International Folkdancers at King Jagiello Plaza 11 AM–6 PM; Skate Circle at Dead Road 2–7 PM.

East Meadow closed.

Steady all week

  NYC Parks’ 44th Annual Wreath Interpretations Open Call at the Arsenal all seven days.
  Bethesda Terrace and Fountain — closed all day, every day. The permits now run to November 18.
  New Dendrology at the Arsenal Gallery, weekdays 9–5, free.
  No league play on the Great Lawn, for the eleventh week running. North Meadow is carrying the whole field calendar now.

Quick recap

  Seven sunny days, 59–66°, almost no rain. Tuesday and Thursday are the best of them.
  Two Fall Foliage Photo Walks Saturday — The Pool 9:30, Boys’ Gate 10.
  The marathon build has started and runs to Nov 10. The drives are not closed this week.
  Diary it: Oct 31 Dash to the Finish Line, Nov 1 the marathon.
  Sunday: geology at the Harlem Meer, marionettes at Diana Ross Playground.
  Bethesda Terrace now closed through November 18.

Have a good week in the park,
Central Park Guide