Bette Midler and Allison Rockefeller: Two Parkies Stick Together

Bette Midler and Allison Rockefeller both work hard to ensure the vitality of parks. Ms. Midler, founder of the New York Restoration Project, revitalizes community gardens and parks in underserved neighborhoods. Ms. Rockefeller advocates for park land and open space on the national, state, and local levels. And we suppose it's just a happy coincidence that they both have events for their organizations on the same day this week. On Tuesday, May 19, Ms. Rockefeller will be at the National Audubon Society's Women in Conservation Luncheon at the Plaza Hotel, for an awards program she founded and chairs; at sunset, Ms. Midler is hosting New York Restoration Project's Annual Spring Picnic in Fort Tryon Park.

We caught up with them earlier in the month at another parkie event, the Central Park Conservancy "hat lunch," where they told us a bit about their mutual passion.

How are the parks doing in this downturn?

Bette Midler: We definitely don't have to go back to how things were in the 1970s. I love what nature has given us and I love doing my part to give people spaces to enjoy it. It's sublime, it's a human right.

Allison Rockefeller: The cornerstone of the American character is our landscape. We've defined open space from the beginning, and today we have an enviable national park system and state park system. The parks in New York City serve the greatest city in the world.

Bette Midler: What's so important about our city parks is that they're completely democratic. We all need these spaces to escape to because we live in apartments full of tchotckes we bought in the economic boom.

You're hosting a picnic?

Bette Midler: I've been promoting my event like a fiend. It's our annual picnic, it's a barbeque, we sell trees, do sing alongs, tell jokes -- we're utterly ridiculous.

Allison Rockefeller: I've never seen anything like Bette Midler. She's right in there pulling chain fences out and planting.

Bette Midler: We're two Miss Fix-Its. She does work with the Central Park Conservancy, and I call my organization the Conservancy of Forgotten Places.