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Spring’s in Bloomin the Park and on the Waterfront Trail! |
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Thanks to some sunshine, a little rain and warmer temperatures, the grass is getting greener, trees are budding, and daffodils are springing up in our parks and trails! We have Ithaca Garden Club, Ithaca Children’s Garden and Cornell Horticulture professor Bill Miller to thank for the incredible daffodil display along the Waterfront Trail! The Daff-A-Dazzle project has planted more than 90,000 bulbs along the Cayuga Waterfront Trail to date. Friends of Stewart Park is so thankful for this wonderful celebration of spring that brightens our spirits at a time when it’s really needed!
Learn more about the Daff-A-Dazzle project at their website, and more about Professor Miller’s Dutch bulb planting machine, which plants 8,000 bulbs in 11 minutes, here. Last weekend the Garden Club and the Children’s Garden hosted the inaugural Daffodil Dash 5K to encourage kids and adults to get out and enjoy the beauty of spring!. |
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Love Stewart Park? Then, come out for I Love My Park Day on Saturday, May 6, from 10am-noon!
We'll prep the park for summer by cleaning up garden beds, planting new landscaping, raking the playground, mulching, trimming lakeside vegetation, and more. Dress for the weather and bring your gloves, rakes, clippers and other gardening tools. This is an event for all ages! Meet at the Information Kiosk by the playground and wear your volunteer shirt if you have one.
This event is sponsored in part by Parks and Trails New York. If you plan to participate, please register on their website! as this will help organizations like PTNY and FSP receive grants and funding for projects such as this one! Registration is not required, but it is appreciated! Like and Share the event on Facebook. |
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As you may have read in earlier newsletters, Stewart Park and the Cayuga Waterfront Trail have joined the Pollinator Pathway network along with Cornell Botanic Gardens and a growing number of Ithaca organizations and homeowners. You can learn more at pollinator-pathway.org. We will be highlighting many of our ‘mostly native’ pollinator plantings in the park and along the Cayuga Waterfront Trail in a future enews. This has prompted us to approach spring cleanup in a new way. Instead of cutting back perennials and grasses to the ground, removing all of the last years dead growth, and replacing with bark mulch or wood chips, we are trimming them back 6” at a time and letting the cuttings fall onto the beds. And we are leaving 12” to 18” of stems to support and protect this years growth and the insect larvae that may reside in the stems. |
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The next of the guided Spring Bird Walks in Stewart Park will be Saturday, May 20 at 9 am. Join Cayuga Bird Club leaders for Bird Walks on the 3rd Saturday of the month, May 20 and June 17.
Dress for the weather, bring your binoculars, and meet at the Cascadilla Boathouse at 9am. |
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A huge THANK YOU to all who came out for the Annual Waterfront Cleanup in Stewart Park on April 8. Pictured here is is some of the weirdest trash picked up that day - A cat tower, Happy Meal Toy, Owl Statue and an in-tact coconut! This is just a tiny portion of all the trash all the incredible volunteers, including members of Zero-Waste Ithaca, collected. |
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THANK YOU also to the Tompkins County Community Beautification Program for cleaning up the front entrance to Stewart Park. They install and maintain colorful plantings in many of Ithaca’s most visited destinations. The program, supported by the Tompkins County Tourism Program and led by Janine Willis and Eileen Sheehan, takes care of Stewart Park’s Entry Garden and Memorial Flagpole Garden with a small staff and the infamous Beautification Brigade volunteers. |
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More Park and Trail News |
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| Great news! Stewart Park has officially been added to the State Register of Historic Places! This important designation is the result of a collaboration between FSP, Wharton Studio Museum and Historic Ithaca! We received a Preserve New York grant that enabled us to hire historic preservation consultant Jessie Ravage, who wrote the nomination application for both the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Stewart Park has now been recommended to the National Register and we will keep you posted on that front! |
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| Work in Stewart Park!
Love Stewart Park? Why not work there!?!
The City of Ithaca is currently looking for seasonal maintenance & cleaning staff, as well as people to run the carousel! Please spread the word!
Read about the positions at here. |
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| Friends of Stewart Park is excited to coordinate weekend Carousel Sponsorships. You, your business, or organization can sponsor FREE rides for children!
Your Sponsorship has a huge impact! In 2021 and 2022, Carousel Sponsorships provided between 15,000 and 20,000 free rides!
Visit www.stewartpark.org/carousel-sponsor to learn more! |
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| Save these dates!
Saturday, August 12 for Watermusic and Dancing on the Trail.
Sunday, August 27 for the Paddle, Pedal and Play Festival.
Saturday, September 23 for our 8th Annual Party for the Park. We hope you’ll join FSP and Wharton Studio Museum for this annual fundraiser in support of park revitalization!
Stay tuned for details. |
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| Thanks to Maddy Vogel for featuring Friends of Stewart Park’s volunteer program and sustainability efforts in the Ithaca College newspaper, Ithaca Week. We appreciate her thoughtful and thorough reporting! |
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| If you missed FSP's "Pollinator Pathway: Improving Biodiversity in Public Park, Trails and Our Own Backyards" presentation by Environmental Management Mary Ellen Lemay was recorded and can now view it on YouTube.
You can also see past FSP presentations and other shorter videos highlighting things like the Inclusive Playground on the Friends of Stewart Park YouTube channel. |
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| Streets Alive! Cayuga St. is this Sunday April 30, from 1-5pm. Streets Alive is an afternoon where the streets are closed to cars and open to people to walk, bike, roll, dance, and play. Our friends at Bike Walk Tompkins produce this magical festival every year and share the nearly endless creative possibilities that a car-free street can bring. This bi-annual event runs the last Sunday in April and the 3rd Sunday in September, from 1 - 5pm. |
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