What happens when adorable Sunday Styles mainstay Bill Cunningham turns his enthusiastic lens and microphone to the High Line?

We don’t want to attempt to describe this gem of an audio slide show in mere words, so you’d better just see for yourself. Let’s just say he thinks these kids and their elevated park are just mah-velous.

Don’t miss the Target High Line Street Festival, our free celebration of the High Line’s opening season, taking place this Sunday and generously sponsored by Target.

From 12:00 Noon to 5:00 PM, we’ll take over Gansevoort Street between Ninth Avenue and Washington Street, in the Meatpacking District.

Come marvel at the World’s Largest Lemonade Stand – in a 1,300 gallon custom-built Rosenwach water tank. The event will also feature inflatable sculptures, a reincarnation of the West Side Cowboy from the Federation of Black Cowboys, body painting, and performances by the Hungry March Band, Zona Del Barrio, and Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra, among many others.

An exciting array of hands-on activities including a special Target “Hi from the High Line!” photo postcard booth, a “recycled trees” sculpture created with the Children’s Museum of the Arts, and a Greenmarket: Youthmarket presented with the Council on the Environment of New York City, featuring corn roasting and cider making demonstrations and treats from local providers add even more fun to the day’s activities.

Internationally-acclaimed balloon sculpture artist Jason Hackenwerth will be on hand working on a large public balloon sculpture of flowers and giant insects, and silk-screen artists will help guests create their own free t-shirts, featuring images by artist Michael De Feo. The Festival will feature a reading of Peter Brown’s The Curious Garden, a New York Times best-selling children’s book inspired by the High Line.

Based on art from THE CURIOUS GARDEN, Copyright 2009 Peter Brown.

Many thanks to Target for making this event possible.

A new piece of High Line Merchandise, this fantastic canvas and leather High Line logo tote by Charles Nolan, located in the neighborhood at 30 Gansevoort Street.

We are thrilled with the products that have been designed for our High Line Merchandise Program.  Big shout-outs to all the neighborhood designers that have been working hard on these pieces.

Tote bag by Charles Nolan, $95

A portion of the proceeds from each sale will support the High Line’s maintenance and operations.

Click here for more info and a complete list of participating designers[PDF].

Images Courtesy of Katie Sokoler

Katie Sokoler over at Gothamist took some amazing night shots of the High Line a few weeks ago. Though the Line makes for a great stroll or hangout during the day, it becomes an altogether different experience by night. For those of you who haven’t checked it out after dark yet, these pictures are worth a look.

Also be sure to check out the ever-evolving, ever-amazing High Line flickr pool to see more photos and to add your own.

More images after the break

Image courtesy of Claudia Berger.

A recent article in the Gotham Gazette documents the perks of a good park, far beyond its immediate function as a facility for recreation and rest. According to “The Central Park Effect”, Central Park attracts more than 25 million visitors a year, about one fifth of whom come from outside the city. Spending by these visitors directly and indirectly accounted for $395 million in economic activity. This activity, as well as increases in property values near the park, generated $656 million in revenues for the city in 2007.

In its first week, the High Line attracted more than 70,000 visitors. According to the New York Times, City officials have predicted that development sparked by the High Line as a public park will bring $4 billion in private investment and $900 million in revenues to the city over the next 30 years.

“Measuring the Economic Value of a City Park System,” a report released by the Center for City Park Excellence at the Trust for Public Land, found that ”numerous studies have shown that the more webs of human relationships a neighborhood has, the stronger, safer and more successful it is.” Good parks assist communities in creating viable human relationships, which in turn lead to stronger and more cohesive neighborhoods. This can “reduce a city’s cost for policing, fire protection and criminal justice.”

Good public space is an imperative part of a good city, but in order to yield positive results, cities must invest in their parks.  The tremendous success of the High Line has been made possible largely through the generosity of donors. Public space fallen into disrepair can have significant negative effects on the city and parks in the outer boroughs and in lower-income neighborhoods are especially at risk. A small donation made to your local public park can go a long way in your neighbohood and your city; support your city by supporting your parks!

From the New York Times

Yesterday’s New York Times article about the High Line Renegade Cabaret shed some light on our new favorite neighbor, who’s been serenading park users since opening day.  Patty Heffley, a former punk rock photographer, enlisted her jazz singer friend Elizabeth Soychak to help transform her fire escape from a laundry dryer into a bona fide stage. Heffley described the change succinctly in her first introduction:

“This is in response to 31 years of obscurity,” Ms. Heffley announced from the fire escape. “Now, every day there are thousands of people looking in my window. We’re not here to celebrate, we’re here to exploit. Welcome to the Renegade Cabaret.”

Despite running into some problems regarding the issue of where to hang her unmentionables up to dry, the High Line has helped lift Ms. Heffley into the spotlight, quite literally. The encouragement Ms. Heffley has recieved has led her to consider other possibilities. “I’ll be putting other kinds of stuff out there, too” she says. “I have lots of ideas.”

You can join the High Line Renegade Cabaret tonight from 9:00 – 10:00 PM at 20th Street.

Find out about showtimes and more at the High Line Renegade Cabaret Facebook group.

Read the full article here, and don’t miss the slideshow!

Visitors at the Chelsea Grasslands

Today’s blog post was guest written by one of our Greeters, Claudia Berger.

One thing is for sure, rain certainly helps the garden grow. The last few weeks of rain has really allowed the Chelsea Grasslands section to flourish. Flowers and other plants of all colors, shapes and sizes have been blooming attracting not only visitors but a variety of butterflies, bees, and birds.

One thing that everyone wants to know is “What is the name of that?” Luckily, as of now all of the Greeters have a plant list, so we can in fact tell you what it is. Again, you can identify us by our gray shirts with the green High Line logo, and our “Ask Me About The High Line” buttons.

The Chelsea Grasslands are made possible by The Tiffany & Co. Foundation.

Visitor with the Plant List

If you visited the park in our first couple of weeks, you may have been told to enter using the Gansevoort access point. This early limited access was part of our strategy to handle the anticipated heavy crowds on the park initially.

You can now enter and exit the park at all access points (Gansevoort stairs, 14^th Street stairs, 16^th street stairs and elevator, 18^th street stairs, and 20^th street stairs).

However, in the event that we reach capacity, we will once again limit entrance to the Gansevoort access point (or 16^th Street if you require an elevator). This is most likely to happen on the weekends, during peak hours of 1:00 to 4:00. So far, this has only occurred on two occasions on the weekends, and has resulted in lines of 10 to 30 minutes.

Most visitors who encountered the lines still had a wonderful experience in the park, and recognized that the brief wait was necessary in order to ensure the safety and enjoyment of all visitors and to prevent damage to the park’s delicate landscape.

We hope that you will take the opportunity to visit the High Line, as more than 100,000 visitors have already!

Here’s a video from UK-based Wallpaper, featuring Co-Founder Joshua David and lead designer James Corner. It was shot back in April, a couple months before the park opened, and it’s amazing how different the landscape looks.

As is to be expected for Wallpaper, this video has STYLE. We love it.

We’ve created a brand-new Flickr Group, and it’s looking a little lonely. We need YOU to cheer up our Pool by adding photos of your High Line visit!

If you have a Flickr account, go to www.flickr.com/groups/friendsofthehighline/ and click “Join this Group” at the top. Once you’re a member, it’s easy to add photos. Just click on “Group Pool” and “Add Photos or Video”.

If you don’t have a Flickr account, it’s easy and free to set one up.

See you in the Pool!