NYC Parks Unveils a “Home for Retired Playground Animals”

The parks in New York City are known for having an outstanding staff, but the ones who go the least recognized are perhaps the most hands-on. Embedded within the city’s web of playgrounds, parkgoers can find animal sculptures ready to be climbed on, talked to, and interacted with in many ways. For these six special animals, their contributions to NYC Parks and the many children and adults alike who have enjoyed their presence could not go uncelebrated. On Friday, August 18th, NYC Parks threw an aardvark, a camel, a frog, an elephant, and two dolphins the retirement party they deserved.

These six concrete animal sculptures hail from playgrounds all over the city. Now that they have found themselves in the sunset of their hard-working years, NYC Parks decided they should have a new place to call home. Adjacent to the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, the “Home for Retired Playground Animals” has officially been unveiled.

To create comfort, NYC Parks has added new benches and a new accessible pathway from three separate points that parkgoers can stroll down as they admire the retired animals. They will also be spicing up the space by expanding the canopy with more trees, shrubs, and landscaping elements.

While the retirement party was the animals’ introduction to their new home, they will now be on view in the park indefinitely along with other retired playground animals to come over the years. If you find yourself in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, it may be worth it to pay them a visit and thank them for their services. Maybe you will even happen upon them by accident and have the unexpected chance to revel in their mysterious stoicism gained from many decades of service to NYC’s millions of children.

NYC Parks commissioner Sue Donohue comments, “We’re so excited to unveil this new contemplative space in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, as we send some of our hardest-working employees into retirement in style. We hope that despite their retirement, they will continue to inspire imagination and creativity in parkgoers into the future.”

Uncover more secrets of Flushing Meadows Corona Park on our tour of Remnants from the World’s Fairs!

Next, check out these 10 secrets of NYC’s Central Park or the 12 largest parks in NYC!