Summer in Stewart Park - Carousel Rides, Music, Special Events & More!

May 28, 2021

June is here and Stewart Park is ready to let summer begin! FSP is excited to be hosting fun and engaging in-person Centennial events in the park all summer long! Read on to discover all the fun we have in store, and ways you can help!

PUBLIC MEETING

Friends of Stewart Park and its partners in park revitalization, Wharton Studio Museum and the City of Ithaca, welcome your input as we update the Stewart Park Revitalization Plan! The SPRP is a vision and roadmap for the park's next ten years, as well as the next 100! FSP, WSM and the City want to know what you love about the park, what you want to see improved in the park. Join us Wednesday, June 9 at 7pm for this important virtual public meeting about Stewart Park's future. At the meeting, we'll review the 2011 Revitalization Plan, what has happened since then & what's still to come-- and ask for your input.

STEWART PARK EXHIBIT IN TCHC

Stewart Park is the focus of a new upcoming exhibit in the Atrium Tower in the Tompkins Center for History and Culture in downtown Ithaca. Set to open June 8th, FSP's multimedia installation tells the history of the park through images, and features numerous revitalization projects of the last ten years, as well as those yet to come. This Stewart Park Centennial exhibit is made possible by Tompkins Trust Company.

SIGHTS OF STEWART PARK

The historic Stewart Park Carousel is now open for the season! The Carousel runs 11am-7pm, Tuesday-Sunday, as well as on holidays that fall on a Monday. While 2021 marks Stewart Park's centennial, it also marks the carousel's 70th birthday. Friends of Stewart Park will be hosting a free virtual presentation about this 1951 Herschell Company metal carousel on August 25 as part of its Centennial Zoom Series. More details to come!

In celebration of the park's centennial, FSP is providing FREE carousel rides on Saturday, June 5. It's just $350 to sponsor the carousel for a day. If you or your business would like to provide a day of free carousel rides for the community, email Rick.

The splash pad is also open for the season! The sprinklers run approximately 11-7 daily, weather dependent. Last year, a curb cut was made to make the area more accessible. Fingers crossed that we'll have the bigger, better, interactive new splash pad in place for next year!

Restoration work on the Cascadilla Boathouse is in full swing. Thanks to Historic Ithaca, the City of Ithaca, Bouley Associates of Auburn with Verdigris Construction/Julie Kitson Construction Management, Bero Associates, and Trowbridge Wolf Michaels Landscape Architects for their work on this project!

Special thanks to the Community Beautification Program coordinators Eileen Sheehan and Jeanine Willis for mulching and weeding the entry garden and the memorial flagpole garden.

FUN RUNNERS CHALLENGE

If you're looking for motivation for your outdoor adventures in 2021, thanks to the Finger Lakes Runners Club, you can win a medal if you run or walk all ten courses of the FLRC Challenge—including the Waterfront Trail. An online leaderboard displays your progress and competition standings for all ages and abilities, and weekly recaps call out notable achievements. It’s a huge community-wide game—local runners have already logged over 5000 miles—and it’s open all year!

Families can run together in the free, age-appropriate, and non-competitive FLRC Kids Challenge, a partnership between FLRC and the Ithaca Youth Bureau that encourages kids to meet milestones of 25, 50, 75, and 100 miles before October 31st, 2021. Join hundreds of other Ithacans in the FLRC Challenge and FLRC Kids Challenge!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Find details on these events, as well as more exciting in-person and virtual events we're planning at friendsofstewartpark.org/events! We expect to have even more events added in the next week. Stay tuned!

SHIRTS ON SALE NOW

Show your love for Stewart Park with your own Centennial T-Shirt. These extra soft unisex shirts are so cozy you could sleep in them, but look so good you’ll want to wear them for a night on the town (or a day in the park!) Proceeds support Friends of Stewart Park!

Order Now

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Join Friends of Stewart Park in sprucing up the park- evenings the week of June 14-18! We'll be painting benches, assembling picnic tables and other special projects to make the ensure the park looks its best for its 100th Birthday! Click the link to be added to the Volunteer List (we'll send more details soon).

I'd Like to Volunteer

MORE PARK & TRAIL NEWS

BATHROOMS

Friends of Stewart Park, Wharton Studio Museum and the City of Ithaca have an exciting update! Stewart Park's first ever ALL SEASON accessible bathrooms are set to open by the end of June! Thanks to the teams at McPherson Builders and Taitum Engineering. They won't *rest* until will have these *rooms!*

CENTENNIAL SERIES

Friends of Stewart Park Centennial Series will run on PEGASYS Public Access TV Channel 13
Wednesdays at 7pm, Thursdays at 1pm, Fridays at 7am, beginning June 2. Catch The Boys & Girls in the Boat, The Many Lives of Stewart Park or Birds of Stewart Park and new virtual programs as they are available. You can also access them for free on the FSP YouTube channel.

CENTENNIAL CHALLENGE

Join the Mayor Stewart Challenge and help match Mayor Stewart's 1921 $150,000 gift to the park! Then, let everyone know about the Mayor Stewart Centennial Challenge! You can do that in-person, on Facebook Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or in your front yard!

ROLLERS WELCOME

The Ithaca League of Women Rollers welcome all skaters to join them Tuesdays evenings to skate on the Cayuga Waterfront Trail. They meet at the Cass Park Rink parking lot at 6PM every Tuesday and roll out from there.

If you'd like to learn more, follow the on Instagram or Facebook.

THANKS TO OUR CENTENNIAL SPONSORS FOR
MAKING THIS YEAR'S FESTIVITIES A REALITY

Bringing May Flowers - and updates!

May 5, 2021

Bulbs along the Cayuga Waterfront Trail in Stewart Park were donated by Cornell Bulb Research Program's Professor Bill Miller, who is testing different cultivars for long term hardiness and ability to survive in turf.

STEWART PARK REVITALIZATION

The Cascadilla Boathouse

Excited to let you know the Cascadilla Boathouse will have a full exterior restoration this year, managed by Historic Ithaca and the City of Ithaca. The general contractor and team are Bouley Associates of Auburn with Verdigris Construction/Julie Kitson Construction Management, a local women-owned business. Bero Associates are the architects leading the project with Trowbridge Wolf Michaels Landscape Architects. Restoration work is expected to start later this month on this iconic Shingle-Style building built in 1896.

The work is paid for with an Environmental Protection Fund grant of $367K from the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, awarded to Historic Ithaca in partnership with the City of Ithaca, Friends of Stewart Park and Wharton Studio Museum. The repairs include: wood shingle siding, veranda, west elevation foundation, decking, windows and doors, and creating an accessible restroom entrance.

Stay tuned for updates through Historic Ithaca and Friends of Stewart Park!

All Season Bathrooms

Friends of Stewart Park and the Wharton Studio Museum have raised more than $120,000 to renovate and winterize the park's main restrooms located in the Wharton Studio Building. This project is supported by the Tompkins County Tourism Program, Triad Foundation and many generous private donors and represents the first phase in the development of the Wharton Studio Museum and Park Center. Restroom renovations are on track to be completed in late May or early June, and we are so excited to finally have year-round accessible restrooms in Stewart Park!

CLEANER & GREENER PARKS & TRAILS

Saturday was Parks and Trails New York "I Love My Park Day." FSP welcomed a crew of around 10 eager volunteers who helped mulch on the playground and at flowerbeds along the Cayuga Waterfront Trail! We were especially impressed with the National Junior Honor Society students who worked as hard as the adults. A huge thanks to Laura, Violet, Rosie, Jim, Katherine, Sam, Diana, Wendy, Sophie, Shaine, Lee-Yam, and Ella!

Thanks to staff members of Trowbridge Wolf Michaels Landscape Architects who recently cleaned up on Inlet Island! From left to right: Claire Fisher, Jonathan Peet, Ryan Wright, Bryan Denig, and Lauren Butts.

Thank you to the stellar Ithaca Dragon Boat Club which volunteered yet again in Cass Park cleaning up the Miller Birch Grove just north of the Cass Park Rink, along the west edge of the parking area (formerly the runway for the old County Airport).

From left to right: Spencer Hill, Deborah Diehl, Liz Norton, Siv Somchanhmavong, Surya Saha, Jorj Buchholz, Paul Norton, Lisa Strayer, Kate Duffy, Christopher Strayer, Paula Loskamp, Amy Kuo.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Note the new date!
Learn more and Register

In-person event with limited space!
Learn more and Register

See details on these events more we're planning at friendsofstewartpark.org/events!

MORE PARK & TRAIL NEWS

VIDEOS
Centennial Series on YouTube
Did you miss the Boys & Girls in the Boat, The Many Lives of Stewart Park or Birds of Stewart Park? Or, did you catch them but want to share the event with someone else? Great news! These free virtual centennial events and other FSP videos are available for free on the FSP YouTube channel.