Central Park has always been a unique place for people to gather. Fifty-two years ago, one of those gatherings made front-page news when over 10,000 people gathered at the Sheep Meadow on March 26th, 1967 for a "Be In" organized by James Fouratt, an actor; Paul Williams, a magazine editor; Susan Harnett, an art administrator; and Claude Badal, a poet and playwright from Chile.
The Be-In had the goal of spreading a message of love and tolerance and was modeled after one which had taken place two months prior in San Francisco. It was not planned as a political protest. However, a month later when crowds would gather again, the message was stronger: "End the war in Vietnam". Subsequent Be-Ins followed, and by 1969, the gatherings were explicitly political.
Due to the cost of cleanup and other effects of the gatherings, city officials got push back and New Yorkers debated whether Central Park should be a place of protest or an oasis of contemplative beauty.
Within a few years it became more complicated to hold large-scale political events in Central Park, and major protests dwindled.
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