Sunday, February 11, 2007

Central Park Winter Jam

The Central Park Winter Jam, held at the 72nd Street Naumberg Bandshell in Central Park yesterday, was one of the many free events sponsored by the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation at Central Park. Winter activities like cross country skiing, snowshoeing and igloo making were available despite the lack of natural snow accumulation. Huge amount of artificially generated snow were created to cover the venue specially for this event. There were also an ice carving exhibition, husky dogs for adoption, free hot chocolate and smoothies, t-shirt give-aways, ski vacation exhibitions, etc.

The photo collage shows a member of the U.S. Winter Olympic Freestyle Ski Team (also known as the The Flying Aces) performing on a giant trampoline. The team routinely trains on the trampoline to master the flips, twists and turns that are commonly used in the competition. This demonstration attracted the most audience and applauds. Click on the photo to see a larger, clearer picture of the collage.

N.B.: The collage was pieced together from half a dozen jumps, despite the appearance of one single jump, courtesy of PhotoShop.

Do you know how to ski? I saw a lot of brochures for ski vacations in upstate New York and Vermont at the event. Unfortunately, I cannot ski so I did not pick up any brochures.