The 2022 G.O.A.T Election Results

By Anna Mejorada

On a sunny Friday morning, a crowd of New Yorkers of all ages, and several canines, waited in anticipation in Riverside Park at West 120th Street to hear if their candidate had been elected.

“Yes, voting is important, but voting for the goats is more fun than voting for elected officials,” quipped Gale Brewer, New York City Council Member for the Upper West Side.

Four votes were all that stood between 1st and 2nd place in this year’s Riverside’s Go(a)t Talent competition held by the Riverside Park Conservancy.

Before revealing the results, Whitney Dearden, the Conservancy’s Director of Public Programming, offered the crowd a bit of comfort, “Don’t feel bad for the runners up, they will all be given a weed bouquet.”

Fourth place was awarded to Big G who graciously accepted his prize.

In 3rd came Elenor who broke free from her handler when her name was called and proudly strutted in front of her fans.

Next came the moment everyone was waiting for: the top two, Skittles and Cheech, were summoned to the front for the big reveal. Then Deardon proclaimed, “The Riverside Park 2022 Greatest of All Time Winner this year is… CHEECH!” and the crowd erupted with cheers!

The goats are now on their way back to join their friends—roughly 200 goats—at their home-base farm in Rhinebeck, New York. The internship that brought them to Riverside Park came to an end earlier than expected because the foursome was too good at their jobs. “They goat the job done,” declared Deardon. The goats ate through their allotment of non-native plants and pesky poison ivy at a faster rate than anticipated, an estimated 6,000 pounds of vegetation since they arrived at the end of June.

The Conservancy is working with their conservation partners to determine whether the goats will be back next summer, but their adoring fans definitely want them back.

“I love goats! I bottle fed goats when I was a little girl and I’ve been obsessed with them ever since,” exclaimed Deena Schmitz, who lives on the Upper East Side. “I always come over here for the goats!” She also highly recommends using soap made with goat’s milk.

“They are so sweet and docile,” shared Heather Stahl, who lives near Riverside Park and volunteered this summer, along with one of her teenagers, to wrangle the goats into their sleeping quarters at the end of the day. She first found out about the goats in Riverside Park after spotting another fan sporting some Riverside Park Conservancy Go(a)tham merch last summer. “It’s such a cool thing to do and you get to meet other like-minded goat lovers. It was a real highlight of my summer!”

Fun Fact: Elenor and Big G are LaMancha goats and do not have horns, and Cheech and Skittles are Alpine goats and do have horns.