The yuletide season is behind us, but Brooklyn’s most beloved holiday tradition is just beginning!
Mulch Fest — that magical time of the year when the parks department grinds old Christmas trees into plant food — kicks off this week. And it isn’t just a great excuse to say fir-well to your saggy seasonal sapling, says a parks honcho — the 20-year-old tradition is also an easy way for you to help spruce up the city.
“There are countless ways we can care for our parks, and Mulch Fest is one of the simplest and most fun,” said parks commissioner Mitchell Silver.
You can donate your timber at one of nine drop-off locations throughout Brooklyn from now through Jan. 10 or leave it on your curb for pick-up from Jan. 4–15.
But to truly get into the Mulch Fest spirit, haul your arbor to one of eight wood-chippers around the borough on Jan. 9 and 10, where you will get to see your pine pulverized before your very eyes — and then take home a bag of the bark chips to nourish your own garden.
Brooklynites chipped in 10,042 trees last year out of a city-wide 29,475 — and Silver has even higher hopes for the festival’s platinum incarnation.
“We hope to create more mulch in 2016 than ever before,” he said.
Here are this year’s Brooklyn locations:
Drop-off locations — Jan. 2–10
Amazing Garden (261 Columbia St. at Caroll Street in Cobble Hill)
Brower Park (Brooklyn Avenue at Prospect Place in Crown Heights)
Coffey Park (Dwight and Verona streets in Red Hook)
Gowanus Canal Conservancy (Fifth Street and Second Avenue in Gowanus)
Green-Wood Cemetery (25th Street and Fifth Avenue in Greenwood Heights)
Green Space (222 Fifth Ave. at President Street in Park Slope)
McGolrick Park (Monitor Street and Driggs Avenue in Greenpoint)
Prospect Heights Community Farm (254 St. Marks Ave. at Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights)
Sunset Park (44th Street and Sixth Avenue in Sunset Park)
Chipping locations — Jan. 9 and 10
Cobble Hill Park (Clinton Street and Verandah Place in Cobble Hill)
Fort Greene Park (Washington Park and Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene)
Maria Hernandez Park (Suydam Street and Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick)
Marine Park (E. 33rd Street and Avenue U in Marine Park)
McCarren Park (Lorimer Street and Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg)
Owl’s Head Park (68th Street and Colonial Road in Bay Ridge)
Prospect Park (Third Street and Prospect Park West)
Prospect Park (Park Circle at Parkside Avenue in Windsor Terrace)
See www.nycgo
