Record Breaking Season

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Governors Island, a 172 acre island in the heart of New York Harbor, is only 800 yards from Lower Manhattan, and even closer to Brooklyn. It is a world unto itself, unique and full of promise.

The Trust for Governors Island is working to make the Island a destination with great public open space, as well as future education, not for profit and commercial facilities. The Bloomberg Administration is investing more than $250 million to build an extraordinary new park and public spaces and to bring the Island's infrastructure into the 21st century.

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Record Breaking Season

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Elizabeth

Some Island visitors enjoying the views from the Island

This season, Governors Island welcomed more visitors than ever before – an incredible 443,000, which is a 60% increase over last year.

Visitors enjoyed Free Bike Fridays, miles of car free biking, dozens of art exhibits, performances, concerts, programs with the National Park Service and more. The Island was open for a total of 56 days this year and closed for the season this past Sunday.

Free ferries to Governors Island were full and popular. The number of riders taking the free ferry from Brooklyn tripled. This year, more than 100,000 riders used that service, compared to 30,000 last year. Ferries ran every Saturday and Sunday between the Island and Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6.

We are so pleased that the Island is attracting as many visitors as some of New York City’s great attractions. On an average Saturday or Sunday, the Island welcomed as many visitors as Ellis Island. On peak days, the same number of visitors came to Governors Island as visit the High Line and the Statue of Liberty. On the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, the Island had its largest number of public access visitors, with 18,600 visiting.

We hope that you had a chance to ride a bike, swing in a hammock, take part on hands on arts programs, hear a concert, or take a tour here this season. If you already miss it, or didn’t get a chance to enjoy what more than 400,000 of our visitors did, don’t worry — the Island will reopen in the spring of 2011.

Filed under: Announcements Tagged: | 2010 season, record breaking season

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@Gov_Island

Katie K, on October 19, 2010 at 3:06 pm said:

Congrats!

I went out on the last weekend and really enjoyed it. I look forward to going more often next summer.

chris, on October 15, 2010 at 7:33 pm said:

hi,
we posted a great 2.5 minute video of our wedding at gov island,
feel free to link / embed to it,
we want people to enjoy the short video
http://www.youtube.com/user/DedicatedLaneVideo?feature=mhum

chris / allie
married 9-18-2010
gov isalnd, NYC*

best

Elizabeth, on October 18, 2010 at 4:42 pm said:

This is wonderful — thank you so much for sharing! Congratulations and best of luck to you and Allie — we are so glad that you had such a special day on Governors Island.