Urban prairie: Paris’ Champs-Elysees to be covered with grass, flowers in May
By APThursday, March 4, 2010
Grass, flowers, trees for Paris’ Champs-Elysees
PARIS — Paris’ Champs-Elysees will be cleared of traffic and blanketed with grass, flowers and trees for three days in May — giving Parisians a chance to picnic there or stroll down the famous avenue barefoot.
Catherine Rosec, press officer for the May 22-24 event, says it aims to increase people’s awareness about sustainable development and celebrate farmers’ work.
The greenery will be provided by the Young Farmers union and France Wood Forest, which represents the wood industry. Gad Weil, who is planning the event, covered the Champs-Elysees with wheat in a similar project in 1990.
The grass will stretch from the Arc de Triomphe about halfway down the avenue.
May 22 is the International Day for Biological Diversity.
