How this viral flower market’s popularity became its biggest setback.
When the great unwashed first got hold of the news that Roosevelt Island was going to be hosting a three - twenty-four hours immersive exposition full of 100,000 plush , simulated flowers — one of which could be taken homefor devoid — it blew up on social media . We , the people , bed free thing and any chance to add an “ effortlessly ” quirky pic to our next IG dump .
But despiteFlower Marketpromising a cute good afternoon , the event quickly bump off a serial of route bumps that left people wandering around Roosevelt Island with no fluffy flowers to sham - snuff .
Here ’s the dislocation of all the dramatic event that ensue .
People flocked to the “Flower Market” exhibition by CJ Hendry|Photo by Antonio Ajam
Friday , September 13 was the grand debut ofFlower Market , and everything was ostensibly suave glide for Australian creative person CJ Hendry and her team . An heroic white tent , dub the greenhouse , at the southernmost tip of Roosevelt Island in the FDR Four Freedoms State Park was fill to the brim with carts of colorful phony flush from lilies and sunflower to rosiness and snapdragon . Attendees had been further to show for complimentary ticket online beforehand , but it was n’t required . Reportedly , Friday go off without a snag .
Come Saturday , September 14 things in the universe of foggy florals took a turn . The compact island became entirely overwhelmed by a swarm of 5,000 weekender look for their own especial keepsake . It was n’t long before the big womp womp : The NYPD showed up to close down the event for being over capacity . To double down on the confusion of it all , agree to air - waiter , CJ Hendry and her squad hold off on post about the closure , so throngs of people were left scratching their heads , while more kept arriving amid the topsy-turvydom .
Meanwhile , mass did what they commonly do and took to social media to air their grievances . Comments under the artist ’s recent Flower Market place admit , “ get down , ” “ Can you make a argument so that hoi polloi know the event is shut ? ” , and “ I ’m so bum around out ! Drove over 150 miles , circle for a parking plosive consonant on [ Roosevelt Island ] , get to the gate at 11 am , and I ’m turn away ! ! ! ”
Hendry decline to comment , but a scrap by and by , she come to Instagram with her ownvideo explanation . “ We ’re really no-good . We did a thing . It was great . It got shut down . ” This earned the artist a mixed reply on IG from good favor to continued frustrations . That being say , what a moment for Hendry : Her expo was purportedlytoopopular . With a hope to go down up a raw placement overnight , citizenry turn on Wiley Post notifications and exited the island .
By the end of the day on Saturday , Hendry and her team stake that they were relocate to a large locale space at Industry City in Brooklyn for its last day . Comments right away tilt on the wary side by wonder location sizing , to which Hendry answer , “ HUGE capacity , 4 times the capability , which means little to no lining up . ”
Although massive line of reasoning were emulated on Sunday with wait time up to three and a one-half hours , apparently people enjoyed this time around — mainly since they were n’t booted from the grounds .
Will this go down as New York City ’s version of Fyre Fest ? Eh , probably not , to be fair . The poor planning for capacity was unquestionably a massive superintendence , but the flowers themselves were really there and the greenhouse was devote esthetic . I guess we ’ve learned the lengths at which mass will go for a fluffy flower or two .
