Central Park (Sheep Meadow) In New York Editorial Photo

Sheep Meadow, Central Park in New York during the Memorial Day weekend. The 15-acre preserve known as Sheep Meadow has a long history as a gathering place for large scale demonstrations and political movements. It is currently a favorite spot for families, sunbathers, picnickers, kite flyers, and other visitors to come relax and admire the New York City skyline. Sheep Meadow is located at West side/mid-Park from 66th to 69th Streets and is open from May to mid-October dawn to dusk in fair weather. This open area is very popular and can draw up to 30,000 people a day. The Sheep Meadow, Central Park, was the largest open meadow feature in the original plan for Central Park, New York City, as it was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. The open space had been a requirement of the design competition for Central Park, which specified a parade ground for the civic function of militia drills and military exhibitions. Olmsted and Vaux's winning Greensward, a nineteenth-century term for broad open lawns, offered a reduced parade ground, sited towards the western side of the proposed park.