New Yorkers Enjoy Tobogganing in Central Park (+Photos)

When last Friday’s snow storm brought in around 5 inches of fresh powder-white snow, sleighing enthusiasts were granted a perfect afternoon in New York’s Central Park.
New Yorkers Enjoy Tobogganing in Central Park (+Photos)
People enjoy sledding and tobogganing south of the Metropolitan Museum in Central Park in New York on Jan 3, 2014. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)
Kristina Skorbach
1/7/2014
Updated:
1/7/2014

NEW YORK—While some New Yorkers woke up to the grunts of snow shoveling and the cleaning of cars covered in layers of snow, others awoke to sounds of screaming children and a race to the store for a sled. 

“My main concern was that they would run out of those sleds, I would have payed $100 just to get a sled,” said upper east side resident Michael Grinberg who came out with his two sons, ages 11 and 13. Grinberg was on vacation and happy to spend time with his kids, who only had half-day at school. 

“This is the best thing,” he said looking at his two boys belly flop on their plastic sleds, speeding down a hill near 5th Avenue and 76 Street. 

Last Friday’s snow storm brought in around 5 inches of fresh powder-white snow, and with temperatures in the 20s, sleighing and tobogganing enthusiasts were granted a perfect afternoon in Central Park this afternoon. 

On a round green sled, a young woman clutching a Louis Vuitton purse under her arm and a small child between her legs rammed into a short metal fence. A father on a sled used his hands to slow down as he was approaching the same fence while a small child between his legs screamed for joy. 

But it wasn’t only parents and children enjoying the snow.

Two young women giggled as they raced each other on their sleds down the hill. One of them, Morgan Debois, said she was praying for good snow in the morning, keeping her fingers crossed. 

“I was going to go to the gym today, and [my friend] was like, ‘let’s just go sledding’” Debois said. 

Her friend Nik Aliye called her the night before, made sure both would wear their pyjamas inside out and both did a “snow dance” before going to sleep for good luck. 

“We’ve only hit about four people...I think I only have three bruises,” Aliye said. 

When the weather channels were reporting a huge snowstorm and warning everyone to bundle up, kids were tuning into the radios awaiting announcements of school cancellations.

Sabrina Fraidenraich, 16, who heard of school getting cancelled, dragged her two small sisters and parents to the park. Her parents took a day off work. 

“We usually don’t get to spend a lot of family time together,” Fraidenraich said. 

“We’re going to be here all day,” she said as her young sister pulled her by the sleeve, pointing up the hill. 

The park was filled with freshly-made winding trails, dogs with snow dangling off their droopy ears, kids with runny noses, parents with red cheeks. A small girl with a pink winter hat plopped down on the snow and made a snow angel while her father texted voraciously on his cell phone. Families built snow men and snow forts together with small plastic shovels.