October in Ithaca - Finger Lakes trails, silent film, and a note from Les Amis

October 5, 2020

Dear Ithaca Park and Trail Friends,

October is a great month to be outside and enjoy our region's trails -- the
colorful foliage, dramatic skies and crisp cool temperatures. Today we are
featuring some of my iPhone photos of the Waterfront Trail, that we set to
music for our Party for the Park. My wife Sally and I have ventured from
Ithaca to enjoy other multi-use trails in the Finger Lakes and we;ve
included them below. Hope they'll inspire you to take a field trip this
month! And October is Silent Movie Month brought to you virtually by our
friends at Wharton Studio Museum. Finally, here's a note from Montreal
friend Gene Riesman (yes, Diana Riesman's dad), who just turned 91 , and is
still actively working to preserve and enhance Mont Royal, Montreal's
most iconic historic park.

Wishing you a safe and healthy October.

Rick Manning, FSP Executive Director

CAYUGA WATERFRONT TRAIL - 2020 IMAGES

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Cayuga Waterfront Trail has remained open, providing a safe and easily accessible place for users to get outside, benefitting their physical and mental health. These are some moments from the Trail this year, pre-pandemic to now.

2020 along the Cayuga Waterfront Trail

9TH ANNUAL SILENT FILM MONTH

Here are two Silent Movie Month 2020 virtual events brought to you by Wharton Studio Museum. In 2012, WSM had the idea to celebrate Ithaca's movie making history with a month each year dedicated to highlighting silent film. In 2012, Mayor Myrick signed a proclamation to make every October Silent Movie Month in the City of Ithaca. Join us in making noise about silent film!

Make Your Own Comic Book
Virtual Program
Saturday, October 17th 10:30am-12pm - Youth ages 9-16

If you love comic books and think you might like to create one of your own or, if you just want to know more about how they're made, then this workshop is for you! Join comic book writer and video editor Michael Watson on Saturday, October 17th from 10:30am-12pm for a fun and creative lesson on how comic books are made.

Michael will talk a bit about how comics get made -- his latest comic ITHAQA is set in our hometown against the backdrop of the Wharton Studio era -- and how he got interested in creating them. Then you'll make your own comic page in small groups. There's a role for everyone, whether you like telling stories, drawing pictures, coloring in pictures, or even if you simply have excellent handwriting! Brought to you by Wharton Studio Museum and The History Center. Thanks to Buffalo Street Books for hosting the virtual event! Issues of ITHAQA are available at the bookstore...
REGISTER HERE: https://www.buffalostreetbooks.com/event/make-your-own-comic

ITHAQA Comic Book Launch Party
Virtual Program
Saturday, October 24th 3pm-4pm

There’s a new comic book called ITHAQA — a Lovecratian horror comic set against the backdrop of the Wharton Studio era — and you’re invited to the virtual launch party! Meet ITHAQA's creator/ writer Michael Watson and illustrator Theresa Chiechi — both are IC alums — and hear how this creative project came to be!  The panel and audience Q&A will be moderated
by Bob Proehl, Ithaca-based author of The Nobody People and A Hundred
Thousand Worlds, a Booklist "Best Book of the Year."

This virtual event is brought to you by Wharton Studio Museum and hosted
by Buffalo Street Books.

Copies of the first issue of ITHAQA are flying off the shelves at Buffalo Street Books and new issues will be available shortly!

Visit www.buffalostreetbooks.com/events for registration info.

For more info about ITHAQA visit www.ithaqacomic.com

FAVORITE FINGER LAKES MULTI-USE TRAILS

The Cayuga Waterfront Trail and Black Diamond Trail have been a lifeline for many Ithacans during this unusual year. As fortunate as we are here in Ithaca to have so many great biking and hiking opportunities, here are some other multi-use trails here in the Finger Lakes worth checking out. Go Finger Lakes website curated by the Finger Lakes Land Trust and IthacaTrails.org are both excellent sources of information about local and regional trails.

The Catherine Valley Trail

You can hop on the CVT in Watkins Glen or Montour Falls and head south through Queen Catharine Marsh and into the woods on this New York State Parks rail trail. The ride from Watkins Glen to Millport is a highlight, passing through the Queen Catharine Marsh. In Montour Falls, check out Shequaga Falls at ‘The Glorious T’. South of Montour Falls, you can see remnants of the Chemung Canal, which predated the railroad bed, then the trail passes through beautiful woodlands on the way to Millport. You can continue south towards Horseheads, or return (downhill!) to your starting point in Montour Falls or WatkinsGlen. Visit Go Finger Lakes to learn more.

Cayuga Seneca Canal Trail

Start your trip on Geneva’s Lakefront Park and follow signs to the east through Seneca Lake State Park to the trail. This rail trail links Geneva to Waterloo with plans to link to Seneca Falls and the Erie Canal Trail in the future. It’s flat, wooded and lovely and follows the Cayuga Seneca Canal that links the northern ends of Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. https://www.gofingerlakes.org/locations/cayuga-seneca-canal-trail/

Keuka Outlet Trail

Start your ride in Dresden on the west side of Seneca Lake and you can walk or bike at a leisurely pace to Penn Yan and back in just 3 hours or so. The Outlet Trail follows a beautiful and powerful waterway that connects Keuka and Seneca Lakes. The Outlet powered many 19th century mills and many charming ruins remain. The surface is mix of grass, gravel and stone dust, but easily manageable, best on a hybrid or mountain bike. https://www.gofingerlakes.org/locations/keuka-outlet-trail/

GUEST COLUMN FROM MONTREAL

Friends of Stewart Park's and Wharton Studio Museum's Diana Riesman has been in her hometown of Montreal for the past three weeks -- two in quarantine! -- to visit her father who inspired her love of urban parks. She asked him to write a little something about Mt. Royal, Montreal's main city park and he complied...

From Montreal to Ithaca...by Gene Riesman

On my visits from Montreal to my daughter and family in Ithaca, it is always a great pleasure to enjoy a visit to Stewart Park, with its lovely location on Cayuga Lake. Over these many years, I've learned about the park's intriguing history which Friends of Stewart Park and Wharton Studio Museum have been working to celebrate, as they improve and revitalize the park for the enjoyment of all who visit.

Years ago I became involved, as a Board Member, with Les Amis de la Montagne ( Friends of the Mountain), the Montreal group dedicated to the protection and conservation of our beautiful Mount Royal Park -- one of Montreal's most popular destinations -- designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1860s. Les Amis de la Montagne works in collaboration with the City of Montreal to enhance and maintain the park -- similar to the relationship between Friends of Stewart Park and the City of Ithaca.

Such public/private partnerships are more and more common these days as municipalities don't always have the funds needed to ensure the long life of their city parks. Without Les Amis working year-round to enhance, manage, and maintain Mt. Royal, it would not be the extraordinary place it is. Obviously, Stewart Park is much smaller than Mt. Royal, as Ithaca is much smaller than Montreal, but the important mission of the two organizations is the same. For the past 60 years I've enjoyed, along with my daughters, all Mt. Royal has to offer: walking and biking paths, a pond called Beaver Lake, places to x-country in the winter, ice skating, and so much natural beauty.

Many decades have passed since I first became a part of Les Amis, but my interest in the park has not diminished. It remains a place I love to go. The historic Maison Smith -- Smith House -- houses the offices of the organization, exhibits on the park's history, and a little cafe and shop. I had the pleasure of having coffee there with Rick Manning, who runs Friends of Stewart Park, when he visited Montreal a few years ago. I introduced Rick to the executive director of Les Amis and the two had a lot to talk about. Smith House reminds me of Wharton Studio Museum's exciting plans to develop the historic Wharton movie studio building into a park center with exhibits on the building's and the park's history and a cafe overlooking the lake.

The support of citizens to maintain and enhance public parks in their city is a vital necessity, and I am very proud of my daughter, Diana Riesman, for her work with Ithaca's Friends of Stewart Park and Wharton Studio Museum.

Gene Riesman
Montreal, Quebec

To learn more about Les Amis de la Montagne/ Friends of the Mountain, visit their website.

MORE PARK & TRAIL NEWS

FOOD AND DRINK

Luna Inspired Street Food is still in the park -- now Friday-Sunday, 11:00 am -6:00 pm. For their menu and more information, visit their website at www.thelunatruck.com

THANK YOU

Thanks again for helping support FSP's park revitalization efforts at our 2020 Virtual Party for the Park! We are so grateful for our sponsors and raffle gift donors, for all of you who bought raffle tickets, made donations and watched on Facebook Live!

Still need to get your raffle prize? Email Andrea or call the office.

Did you miss the event? Click here to watch. No Facebook account necessary.

VIDEOS

Have you been to the Friends of Stewart Park YouTube channel? There you can see "Stewart Park Minute" videos, like this one where City of Ithaca forester Jeanne Grace shows off a couple of her favorite trees on the Stewart Park Tree Tour. Other videos include park history and families enjoying the Accessible Playground.

MEMORIES
Send FSP your Stewart Park Pics

July 4, 2021 will be Stewart Park's centennial as a public park.

Help celebrate 100 years by sending us your Stewart Park pictures from the past! Send to memories@friendsofstewartpark.org

Give to Friends of Stewart Park

Copyright © 2019 Friends of Stewart Park, All rights reserved.

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www.friendsofstewartpark.org

Our address is:
120 Brindley St. Suite 4, Ithaca, NY 14850

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