By Daniel Katzive
The goats are back!
Riverside Park Conservancy welcomed “baaaaack” their caprine gardeners on Friday at the first “Goatham Festival” to inaugurate the park’s new composting facility. The goats chewed through a vegetarian ribbon to mark the occasion. The well-attended event also featured local vendor booths and live music, as well as arts-and-crafts activities.
As West Side Rag reported in April, the new composting facility, located in an unused maintenance area south of the 96th Street clay tennis courts, will receive plant debris, leaves and clippings from Riverside Park and produce fresh compost for use by the park’s (human) gardeners.
As for the goats, they will now head for their summer quarters in the woods near Grant’s Tomb and will deploy once again to clear the steep slope up there of invasive vegetation.
Three cheers for the return of the “caprine gardeners”! I look forward to catching a view of Charlie, Cowgirl, Mallomar & Chicoup up north–and it’s so great to see the park’s beautifully designed new composting facility. Thanks as ever to the WSR for the great coverage and pics!
Great! Welcome goats!
I just love the goats and are so glad they’re baaa-ck!
We love the goats, but this was a terrible idea. Who would replace the joyous running of the goats among the grass and trees with a gathering in the heat of July in a parking lot? They had to really work to find the only spot in Riverside Park that doesn’t have any shade at all. I sincerely hope they come to their senses and go back to the running next year. It was a pity to see families with small children huddled in the only shade they could find, a hundred yards away.
Love 💗 reading about this !