National Parks Week NYC Announced Timed With PBS Ken Burns Series Airing

The nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), NYC Department of Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, filmmaker Ken Burns and PBS announced the launch of National Parks Week NYC, a week-long series of events in NYC, September 19-27, 2009, featuring an evening of music and film in Central Park’s East Meadow on Wednesday, September 23 starting at 7p with highlights from the upcoming Ken Burns PBS series “THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA.”  The series will premiere on Sunday September 27 on PBSand releasing on dvd October 6 (order thru GH below).

During National Parks Week NYC, a series of public events will celebrate the  history of our national parks and launch a national dialogue about the future of the parks as they enter their second century. A number of park-related events will take place in NYC, including a green carpet gala on Tuesday, September 22 for friends of the parks to celebrate the cause. National Parks Week NYC will provide countless opportunities to entertain and educate the whole family, from a Lantern Tour of Fort Wadsworth to Grant’s Tomb After Dark and an Evening Tour of Liberty Island.

The main event of the week, “Feel Free: A National Parks Celebration in Central Park,” will feature highlights from the Ken Burns new PBS documentary, “THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA,” and musical acts by an array of talented performers. The live show from East Meadow in Central Park will be shared via satellite to PBS affiliates and other partners assembled in various locations around the country.  NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to kickoff the evening and Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will speak, along with other dignitaries.

PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger said, “Like Ken Burns’s other works, including ‘Baseball’ and ‘Jazz,’ ‘The National Parks’ pays tribute to an institution that is uniquely American. In their newest series, Ken and collaborator Dayton Duncan show how our parks are built on a notion as radical as the Constitution itself – the thought that America’s most beautiful landscapes should be preserved not just for the wealthy and the powerful, but for all citizens. If ever we forget that we all own a stake in our parks, this series will remind us. PBS is proud to work with Ken and Dayton on this series, and we are thankful to the National Parks Conservation Association and our other partners for their support of the ‘Feel Free’ event.”