AMERICAN URBAN STAR FEST 
 ----------------------
 John Pazmino
 Amateur Astronomers Association
 2002 October 27

[Abstracts of papers and posters presented at the 91st Annual Meeting 
of the AAVSO, held in Somerville, Massachusetts, October 24–27, 2002] 

    Over the last couple of decades New York City implemented, and 
continues to carry out, several schemes of eradicating luminous 
graffiti. One result has been the gradual recovery of the natural 
night sky. By 1994 the normal clear sky transparency over Manhattan 
deepened to fourth magnitude and has been slowly creeping deeper, 
until in 2002 it is at magnitude 4 to 4.5. 
    In the spring of 1995, during some lazing on a Manhattan rooftop 
under a sky full of stars, several New York astronomers hatched the 
idea of letting the whole people celebrate the renewed starry sky. In 
due course they, through the Amateur Astronomers Association, engaged 
the New York City Parks Department and the Urban Park Rangers in an 
evening of quiet picnicking to enjoy the stars in their natural sky. 
    Thus the Urban Star Fest was born. The event thrilled about 3,000 
visitors in Central Park's Sheep Meadow on Saturday 30 September 1995. 
This year's Fest, the eighth in the series, demonstrated the City's 
upper skyline of stars on Saturday 5 October 2002 to about 2,200 
enthused visitors. 
    Although the Fest is always noted as cancellable for inclement 
weather, so far, it has convened every year, with attendance ranging 
from 4,000 down to a mere 1,000, this latter being under the smoke 
plume of the World Trade Center in 2001. 
    Despite this swing in attendance, the American Urban Star Fest is 
America's largest regularly scheduled public astronomy event. Of 
course, special occasions, like comets or eclipses, can and do attract 
far larger interest both in the City and elsewhere. 
    The presentation shows the setup and program of the American Urban 
Star Fest, to illustrate how the general public can actively become 
aware of the night sky and see for themselves the results of their 
very own efforts at removing light pollution -- and note where 
improvement is yet to come.