The historic twin gazebos that sit above Little Neck Bay in Bayside’s Crocheron Park will be fully restored by the NYC Parks Department in the coming years.
Volunteers who maintain the park have long been advocating for the city to bring the deteriorating structures back to their former glory. They are not officially recognized as landmarks by the city’s commission, but they were in place when the park first opened in the 1930s.
Since then, they have been patched up, fortified and given fresh coats of paint, but it has not been enough to keep them in prime condition. Their crumbling nature also raises safety concerns for the park goers who say they enjoy them with caution.
“It was worrying me for quite a while, with the way that the wood on the gazebo was coming down, that it was going to end up falling and hurt someone,” Jessica Burke, co-founder of Friends of Crocheron and John Golden Park, told QNS. “The deterioration was just going to continue and maybe cause it not to be able to be repaired.”
Earlier this year in March, Friends of Crocheron Park penned a letter to Council Member Vickie Paladino requesting her to prioritize repairing the twin gazebos in the park. Just last month, Paladino announced that she secured $388,500 to restore both gazebos. The fully funded capital project is part of the City Council’s fiscal year 2025 budget.
The letter described both gazebos as in “various states of disrepair,” with the northern one specifically more in need of repairs. The group cited loose bricks and rotting wood at risk of collapsing alongside images showing the deterioration.
It also noted that in the past, the employees from the Parks Department attempted to make repairs, but reported back that they did not have the capacity with a limited budget and supplies.
“We are proud of our work to help connect our members, volunteers and fellow ‘parkies’ working together to help preserve the parkland, which has fallen into disrepair due to fiscal constraints,” concluded the letter.
Parkgoers would often ask members of the organization when the gazebos would be addressed. The group had hoped that the funding would be allocated in the coming years, but were surprised to receive the good news so soon.
“I was honestly so surprised,” Burke remarked. “I was just really amazed at how committed [Council Member Vickie Paladino] is to parks and understanding how important they are to our community and the historical significance of those buildings as well. I was just shocked.”
“These gazebos are a staple of Crocheron Park and of Bayside, and I can’t wait to see them restored to their former glory,” Council Member Vickie Paladino said in a statement. “Special thanks to Friends of Crocheron Park for advocating for the restoration and your care of the park.”
Burke founded Friends of Crocheron Park in 2020 when she began to notice more trash piling up in the park amid budget cuts to the agency. The group’s park cleanup events brought together dozens of people who wanted to give back to their local park.
“Park goers that we talk to really help direct our mission and what kind of programs and events that we’ll put on,” said Burke. “This is something that they cared about that also links to our history.”
Four years later, the group is focused on archival work to preserve the historical aspect of the region, as well as ongoing advocacy efforts to keep improving the park. The initiative was started by Burke, who naturally began to wonder about the history of the park after getting involved in its upkeep.
“This is really is one of the biggest wins for the organization,” Burke added. “It’s part of the process of bringing back some of the prestige of the park, being able to have it for our generation now but also for our children and preserve it for the future.”
