From the archives: The end of "The Gates" exhibit

This article was originally published in Newsday on February 28, 2005

"The Gates," the public exhibit that dabbed bright orange speckles throughout Central Park and turned hordes of visitors into critics, fluttered for the last full day yesterday.

Crews on the 16-day exhibit were to begin early this morning dismantling the 7,500 frames. Over the next two weeks, weather-permitting, the material will be trucked out of the park and bound for recycling.

After that, all that will be left will be millions of fluorescent memories and what officials said was a mid-winter boost for the city's economy.

"It's safe to say these are the largest crowds Central Park has ever seen," Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said in an interview, calling yesterday the biggest turnout.

To mark the final hours, thousands stopped in yesterday amid near-freezing temperatures to gaze and snap photos of the panels, which the husband-and-wife artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude insisted were saffron-colored but most said looked orange.

There were as many opinions as panels among the viewers.

"It seems to be a little obnoxious to put bright orange in such a beautiful park," said Alice Lee, 24, an economic analyst from the Lower East Side, who nevertheless visited the exhibit twice.

Patricia Penn, a writer from Poughkeepsie, called it "really quite glorious."

"I feel like I'm watching the monks in Thailand in their saffron robes," said Penn, 71.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude footed the $21-million price tag for the project, which they first pitched to the city in 1979. Their next project will take them to the Arkansas River in Colorado this summer.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has estimated city businesses reaped $80 million of tourism-related money from the project.

One group reporting a windfall was vendors hawking photos of the exhibit.

Victor Samagalsay, 40, of Staten Island, who was selling photographs near the Metropolitan Museum of Art, said sales were twice as good as on a normal day.

"I hope it's going to stay one more month," he said.

But the artists insisted the project should stick to its planned climax, saying on their Web site that the short time "creates a preciousness and an urgency, encouraging us to bear witness and drink in the art as much as we can."

To one visitor yesterday, the limited lifespan seemed fitting.

"There's a peacefulness and a serenity," said Frances Wu of Chelsea, who works in marketing. "I didn't know what to expect, but when I walked through it, it was Zen-like. I'm glad it's fleeting."

Staff writer Bryan Virasami contributed to this story.