In the 1960s, several "be-ins" were held in Central Park, Manhattan, New York City to protest against various issues such as U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and racism.

Adding to the tension of the Americans against the war was the emergence of a generation of people who were a part of the counter-culture and believed that they should do anything possible to go against the establishment.

After Hecksher was met with great opposition by protestors who held up unauthorized banners and burned draft cards in the park anyway, he decided to set up designated areas just for these types of demonstrations such as Randall's Island.

As a part of the compromise made by the New York Civil Liberties Union, a separate area in Central Park was set aside for big demonstrations.

On New Year's Eve 1967,[1] a group of one thousand people accompanied by music and geese burned down a Christmas tree in Central Park.

magazine; Susan Hartnett, head of the Experiments in Art and Technology organization; and Claudio Badal, a Chilean poet and playwright.

[3] The New York Times described them as "poets from the Bronx, dropouts from the East Village, interior decorators from the East Side, teachers from the West Side and teeny boppers from Long Island" and said that "they wore carnation petals and paper stars and tiny mirrors on foreheads, paint around the mouth and cheeks, flowering bedsheets, buttons and tights".

[3] The car was covered with flowers while the crowd chanted of "daffodil power" at which point the police quickly retreated.

Less than a month later, on April 15, another anti-war rally took place as a part of the "Spring Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam".

This peace rally, which assembled and started off in Central Park and then marched to the United Nations, was said to be the largest of its kind at its time.

The demonstrators ranged from Sioux Indians from South Dakota to members of the African American community all rallying for one cause, peace.

The New York Times described the attendees as "young people, some with bare feet and others wearing sandals or socks who did some moderately contortionate dancing at first.

The Gay march went from Washington Place in Greenwich Village uptown on Sixth Avenue to end with a "gay-in" in Sheep's Meadow.