On Monday, Sept. 23, Friends of Stewart Park and Wharton Studio Museum held a Groundbreaking to mark the beginning of construction of a new Addition to the back of the historic Picnic "Large" Pavilion. Officials from the City of Ithaca and Tompkins County officials, FSP and WSM board members, and supporters gathered to celebrate the groundbreaking.
Built in 1894, today the Picnic Pavilion is a popular venue for spring, summer and fall weddings, parties and other gatherings. In the summer, it is home base for Ithaca Youth Bureau’s Stewart Park Summer Day Camp which has operated out of the building for over 60 years. This new Addition creates safer and more accessible storage for equipment and supplies for Ithaca Youth Bureau’s Camp staff and campers.
The project also paves the way for the future Wharton Studio & Café in the Wharton Studio Building across the way, where camp equipment and supplies are currently housed. The lake-facing 1000 sq. feet of the historic Wharton Studio Building, a vibrant motion picture studio from 1915-1921, is being developed into exhibit space and a café that will bring to life and highlight the unique history of the building. READ MORE.