Ava Yang, age 7, and sister Lola, 5, splash in the “trickling brook” at the Diller-von Furstenberg Sundeck on “Wild Wednesday”
Once again, GREAT MUSEUMS is on location at the High Line in New York City. Today was “Wild Wednesday” at the Chelsea Market Passage, a hands-on “nature education” event for children that is so impressive it’s hard to describe. We filmed young kids of all ages—crawlers, toddlers, kindergartners and their older siblings—feeling, smelling, and connecting actual plants to the spice versions of those plants (Mint, Sassafras, and Clerodendrum, which smells like peanut butter), simply by using their noses.
Emily Pinkowitz, School and Youth Program Manager for the High Line, says that city kids don’t grow up using their sense of smell to its full glorious potential. Sure, we all know a good smell from a bad smell, but to get a whiff of Prairie Dropseed on the High Line and to understand through your nose that this is what a wide-open prairie space smells like – well, that is an amazing sense for a small child to develop. Prairie Dropseed (which smells a bit like cilantro) and all the plants in today’s program, grow along the High Line. Historically, many non-native plants whose seeds were carried by the trains from far away sprouted rail-side along the High Line.
These events demonstrate one of the basic storylines of our documentary: The transformation of the High Line into a public park space has been the catalyst for an explosion of cultural and educational activities that have become an essential part of the Lower West Side neighborhood.
Come on down to the High Line tomorrow. We’ll be working our way north from 10th Avenue, capturing more sights and sounds of the High Line. At 7:00 pm, we’ll be filming the weekly Arriba Dance Night, held under The Standard Hotel, featuring Caribbean Jazz by Tony Terrell.
-Chesney Doyle, Co-Executive Producer
Watch the introductory video blog from the GREAT MUSEUMS Filming the High Line series.