Scenes from Save Tompkins Day

Photos by Stacie Joy

Monday was a day of celebration on the ballfields/TF at Tompkins Square Park... a day that marked the one-year anniversary of the city's decision not to put artificial turf on the northwest corner of Tompkins... sacred ground for generations of skateboarders.

The skate community marked the day by bringing in a variety of vendors for a flea market of sorts in which all the money was being donated to at-risk local businesses and BLM-related causes. (Organizer Adam Zhu, an East Village resident, reported in an Instagram post that more than $10,000 was raised on Monday.)

EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these portraits from the afternoon in Tompkins...






































...and on the TF...

Uncle Leroy’s Sidewalk Sale coming to Tompkins Square Park today

[Photo from 9/7/19 by Stacie Joy]

One year ago today skateboarders celebrated the city's decision NOT to place artificial turf on the ballpark/TF in the northwest corner of Tompkins Square Park.

East Village resident Adam Zhu, who grew up skating here, launched a petition in late June 2019 to spare the asphalt from the fake turf ... and eventually gathered more than 32,000 signatures from people who wanted to preserve this important part of the skate community and youth culture. The outpouring of support was enough to change the minds of the Parks Department.

Today, skaters are celebrating this anniversary by bringing in Uncle Leroy’s Sidewalk Sale (background here via Vice about these sales that have been happening at McGolrick Park in Greenpoint this summer) to the space to raise money for at-risk local businesses and BLM causes.


[Invite via @z.h.u1]

The sale takes place from 1-6 p.m. today.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to the TF in Tompkins Square Park

And via Quartersnacks...