http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-The-Gates.html?hp
'The Gates' Colors Central Park in Saffron
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: February 12, 2005
Filed at 9:58 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- With flowing fabric the color of a sunrise, ``The Gates'' -- a massive public art installation -- was unfurled Saturday for the start of a 16-day stay transforming miles of footpaths in Central Park.
The project opened with Mayor Michael Bloomberg dropping the first piece of saffron-colored fabric to the cheers of a huge crowd. He was joined by exhibit creators Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
The crowd counted down the seconds before Bloomberg, a longtime backer of the project, opened the exhibition at 8:30 a.m.
The weather was windy and cold as the first fabric dropped from one of the 7,500 16-foot-high gates, creating what the artists billed as ``a visual golden river'' along 23 miles of the park's footpaths. More than 1 million square feet of fabric was used by the artists.
Its official title -- ``The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979-2005'' -- refers to the artists' conception of the idea 26 years ago. It was expected to take about two hours to drop the fabric from all the gates.
Golden Horde. It's a Mongol camp.