Remember the (Old) Mounds? Here’s “The Merry Mounds” Video for Some Holiday Spirit

A must watch! This video is a clip of kids at Washington Square Park sledding and frolicking in the snow at the Mounds in 2008 before their redesign construction, set amidst the musical background of Karen Carpenter’s “Sleigh Ride.” It shows how children gravitated towards the Mounds as places of spontaneous play. I imagine different parts will resonate for different people.

Look at the low fences around the park! (That was one of the issues of contention with the redesign plans.) This caught my attention most when I watched the video this time. You can see parts of the park were under construction in the background.

Produced by Matt Davis (“SQUARE: Straightening out Washington Square Park”).

And the ironic thing is that the new Mounds, which the Parks Department and re-designer George Vellonakis so did not want in the new park – despite now retaining a glimmer physically, but somewhat contextually, of the old Mounds – are a huge hit!

This is what I wrote about this video and the old Mounds in 2013 as the new “Mounds” were set to debut:

The “new” “Mounds” are covered in bright green artificial turf and surrounded by “cable-net play.” No more sledding! A group of community activists worked very hard to keep the “Mounds” in the redesign plans (they were not originally) and succeeded with the assistance of former Council Member Alan Gerson. Community Board 2 was given a role of oversight of the redesign’s “details” via the Washington Square Park Task Force – but let this body lapse after Phase I opened. Alas, the Mounds are not six feet tall and look nothing like the original Mounds. Whether they will have elements of “spontaneous play” remains to be seen.

They do, thankfully.

Happy Holidays!