Love was in the air at “Field of Light at Freedom Plaza” in Midtown Manhattan on Valentine’s Day.
Tickets to the free spectacular art installation by British-Australian artist Bruce Munro are difficult to come by -the show has been sold out months in advance. So, organizers held a special evening opening in celebration of Valentine’s Day.
Visitors were welcomed with long-stem red roses and chocolate kisses and enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa as they strolled through the luminous wonderland.
Upper West Siders Joe Ruolo and Henry McGee have been a couple for 43 years. The two met while attending college in Ohio.
“We met at a gay bar. Back then, that’s how things were done,” Ruolo said. “We started going out. I moved in with [McGee], and 43 years later, here we are.”
Ruolo and McGee usually don’t make a “big fuss” about Valentine’s Day and just go out for dinner. But they thought visiting the art installation was something fun to do.
The secret to their long-lasting relationship: “We both like the same things,” Ruolo said. “Friends ask us all the time, ‘Do you ever fight?’ And we really never have a fight about anything. We just get along.”
His partner McGee added, “We are like our friends’ role models.”
Colm and Laura Forde from Tipperary, Ireland, were visiting New York City on a “Babymoon” – the couple is expecting their first child, a baby girl, in May.
Colm Forde proposed to his wife at “Field of Light Uluru” in Ayers Rock, Australia, in February 2022. While planning their trip to New York City, they learned that “Field of Lights” was on display here and tried to get tickets.
An undertaking that proved challenging since the Valentine’s Day event had already been sold out.
“There were no tickets, and I was so disappointed that it was sold out,” Laura Forde, who is turning 30 on Feb. 16, said. “And we really wanted to come.”
Undeterred and unbeknownst to Laura, Colm Forde went the extra mile and emailed Ejai, the assistant manager at “Field of Light” in New York City, to tell him their story, hoping to score tickets after all.
“I just emailed blindly, I just chanced it,” Colm Forde said.
“Field of Light” assistant manager Ejai told amNewYork Metro that he received an email from Colm Forde telling him their story and that they were in New York City for Valentine’s Day.
“We were sold out of tickets,” Ejai said. “But then [Colm] told me he proposed to [Laura] at [Field of Light Uluru]. They’re having a child now, so I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s a great story all the way.’”
Ejai wrote Colm to come to “Field of Light” on Valentine’s Day and ask for him at the gate.
“I walked them in, made sure they had a nice little rose, and it looks like they had a good time,” Ejai said. “I just saw them on the way out, and they said they had a blast.”
Laura Forde was surprised when her husband took her to the art installation after all.
“It was a surprise to me,” Laura Forde said. “I knew the exhibition was here, but I just thought it was sold out, and there was no way we would be able to come see it. So when we got here for Valentine’s Day, Colm said, ‘We’re gonna go down. I’ve got someone who might be able to help us out.”
“Very much thanks to Ejai,” Colm Forde said. “He’s a legend.”
Kacey Castaneda and Romain Persaud said that while Valentine’s Day was a celebration of love, it was also a celebration of consumption and capitalism.
“I show you that I love you every day, but one day, it has to be more than any other day,” Persaud said.
“I think a lot of it is the consumption and the necessary need for showing love on a specific day, but at the same time, I like flowers,” Castaneda said. “I can’t be mad if I have a chance to get flowers.”
Vivian Ngiam and Walter Sanchez, both from Brooklyn, have been dating for over a year. Wednesday was the first Valentine’s Day they spent together.
For Ngiam, Valentine’s Day was a celebration of love.
“Having your people that you love being close together and celebrating that,” Ngiam said.
Sanchez explained in South America, they celebrated Saint Valentine, the Patron Saint of Love.
“It’s a day of commemoration of friendship,” Sanchez said. “So it’s a bit weird because coming here, it’s definitely based on romantic love. But in Latin America, it’s also a day to celebrate friends and family.”
Teenagers Haooun and Alex from Queens spent the day with their moms, Sophia and Grace, respectively.
For them, Valentine’s Day was all about spending the day with loved ones.
“But leave the husbands at home. But they’ll be happy to see the flowers, ” Grace joked.
