Tipis Spring up in Prospect Park, for the Third Time!

The tipis of Prospect Park are back!

After a couple months of hibernation, the makeshift structures are beginning to pop up throughout the park, again. 

The , with just two lean-tos and then again a couple weeks later with .

However, the new structures, which were happened upon this past Sunday near Long Meadow and in the wooded area between the lawn and West Drive, are exponentially bigger.

The biggest one can fit about three people sitting cross-legged on the ground and enjoy relative shelter under a roof and walls made out of long sticks, leaves and logs.

But the tipis, which are flimsy but seem to have taken some considerable effort and vision (and perhaps a bit of stealth) to erect, are not welcome in the park according to park staff.

A spokesman for the Prospect Park Alliance, Paul Nelson, said that every couple of years a person or persons builds the temporary structures, but no one knows who the guerrilla lean-to artist is.

“These are illegal structures that someone has erected in the park,” Nelson said. “When we discover them, they are dismantled.” 

Nelson said that the PPA and the Department of Parks and Recreation does not have an exact number of how many of these structures they have taken down throughout the years, but he did say that they may pose danger to park goers.

The tipis appear to be more art than the kind of structure made by transients or the homeless used for shelter.

The fact that the pieces of art are illegal does not keep park goers from having fun with them. On Sunday, a family was playing in and around the smaller one in the wooded area, which was more like a lean-to and used a fallen tree to support the structure. The family added a couple of sticks and laughed while a little boy crawled underneath. 

A man looking at the bigger tipi near the lawn said that he likes the look of it.

"Whatever it is, it's pleasant. Someone is using their brain and artistic ability to turn a pile of sticks into something beautiful," a man named James said, who did not want to give his name because he knows that the structures are frowned upon by the authories. 

What do you think? Are the tipis dangerous? Should they be disassembled?