June 1, 2009 / Perspective / The Brooklyn Angle

Ticket sales in the tank? Who you gonna call? Gersh Kuntzman!

By Gersh Kuntzman

The Brooklyn Paper

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They used my face to promote their party — and now they're calling me again in a last-minute ticket push.

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We all know that the recession has forced you to cancel vacations, switch to Budweiser tall boys, and put off essential medical procedures, but now the fiscal doldrums are on the verge of ruining the fun for kids, too.

Prospect Park’s “Party for Playgrounds,” the annual fundraiser and silent auction to raise money for all the child’s play that goes on in the park, is falling short on ticket sales on the eve of Friday night’s event.

And I should know. A few months ago, when tickets when on sale, the Prospect Park Alliance made the wise decision to include a picture of me and my wife from last year’s “Party for Playgrounds” in the brochure for this year’s affair.

In short, my inclusion in the ticket offering made me the public face of philanthropy in Brooklyn. So with the event just five days away, my phone naturally started ringing.

“The pace at which people are buying tickets is slower,” Eugene Patron, a spokesman for the Prospect Park Alliance, the quasi-government agency that operates the park, told me. “It’s not a drastic drop, but we need one big push. That’s why we’re reaching out to you, the ‘public face of philanthropy in Brooklyn.’”

Now, being a spokesmodel for the “Party for Playgrounds” has been great fun. But now it’s time for me to do something more important than bask in my own reflected glory. It’s time for me to shill for the Parks Department (full disclosure: I bought a pair of the $75, tax-deductible, tickets myself — there is no quid or quo here). So here goes:

The “Party for Playgrounds” is actually one of the great events on the Brooklyn social circuit. The ticket price includes great food, booze and plenty of local celebs to schmooze, the journalist’s trifecta. There are also boat rides on the lake.

In short, everyone always has a great time for a good cause.

And if you think you can’t afford to cough up a few bucks, think about this: You’re probably the proud owner one of the more than 60,000 children who live within a mile of the park — and you know your kids use the playgrounds regularly.

So if you’re on the fence about buying a ticket, remember that someone has to maintain that fence.

Buy a ticket. Tell ’em that the public face of philanthropy sent you.

©2009 The Brooklyn Paper

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