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Your Support is Making an Impact!

Your support is making an impact!
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It’s the season when your support is needed to pave the way for a productive year ahead. 2023 has been a “groundbreaking” year and we could not have broken ground or cut any ribbons without your tremendous help and encouragement. Highlights include:

  • Stewart Park being added this past May to the National Register of Historic Places, a designation that opens new state and federal funding opportunities for our park revitalization efforts.

  • And speaking of groundbreaking, FSP is excited to be entering into a contract with Edger Enterprises in Elmira, NY, for construction of the new Splash Pad and Seasonal Bathroom building adjacent to the playground. This project, a long time in the planning, was made possible by a grant from the New York State Environmental Protection Fund; funding procured through Assemblymember Anna Kelles; and support from private donors. Our goal is to have the project completed by July 4, 2024.

  • Great progress is being made on the Wharton Studio & Café in partnership with Wharton Studio Museum (WSM). Bero Architecture is leading a planning study for the cafe which involves informational meetings with local café operators to gain a sense of space needs and management. Also, the Addition to the Picnic Pavilion, which will house Stewart Park Day Camp equipment currently stored in the Wharton Studio Building’s lake-facing rooms, is going out to bid in the next few weeks. The Addition will not only enhance the camp’s safety and operations but also pave the way for the Wharton Studio & Café. Kudos to Assemblymember Kelles for securing $250,000 in NYS funding for the Addition project.

  • The only thing better than a groundbreaking is a ribbon cutting and FSP co-hosted one in October with Historic Ithaca and WSM. Two new interpretive signs were installed: one recounts the history of the Erie Canal at Stewart Park, the other is an illustrative map highlighting all the park has to offer visitors. Thank you to the Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor for its support.

  • FSP recently installed three new locally-fabricated ‘gliders’ along the north edge of the park overlooking Cayuga Lake thanks to generous donors.

We thank the City of Ithaca, Wharton Studio Museum, and Historic Ithaca for their partnership in our park revitalization efforts and thank the volunteers who help keep the park and trail beautiful, as well as our great Board of Directors and Staff.


And thank YOU! FSP’s groundbreaking work is only possible with your support. Make an end-of-year gift and help us continue this good work. We truly appreciate your generosity.


All the best this holiday season!


Rick and Diana

Support Friends of Stewart Park Today!

Your Gift Makes an Impact!

Here’s even more ways FSP is making a difference in our community!

  • New maps can now be found near the Picnic Pavilion and Lagoon Bridge.

  • Sponsors provided 12,000 free carousel rides.

  • FSP volunteers spent 275 hours cleaning and landscaping the park and trail.

  • WaterMusic brought music & dance to the Cayuga Inlet.

  • The Cayuga Waterfront Trail is now a designated Pollinator Pathway.

GIVE NOW

Thank yous and Trail news

Thank you to our volunteers, supporters and partners.
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Dear Friends,


As Thanksgiving approaches, Friends of Stewart Park thanks you - our volunteers, supporters and partners - for all you do to maintain and enhance Stewart Park and the Cayuga Waterfront Trail. While FSP is focused on our two priority projects - preparing to build the Splash Pad and Accessible Bathrooms and planning for the Wharton Studio & Café - we continue to work on the little things that make a big difference. These include facilitating the fundraising, fabricationand installation of park gliders, trail benches and new interpretive and wayfinding signs.


We are so pleased that our partners at the City and Town of Ithaca are also working to create safer and more comfortable connections from the Cayuga Waterfront Trail to other regional trails, schools and adjacent neighborhoods. The City has recently installed an impressive pedestrian bridge spanning the Flood Channel from the Floral Avenue Trail to Cecil Malone Drive. And the Town of Ithaca has begun developing plans for much needed trail connections between Ithaca High School, Boynton Middle School and the Cayuga Waterfront Trail, near the Youth Bureau. These significant public infrastructure projects are time consuming and expensive, but once done are well worth the wait.


Read on and wishing you all a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. After dinner on Thursday, enjoy a walk on the Waterfront Trail!


Trail Maintenance Matters!

Nearly every week throughout the spring, summer and fall, FSP staff and volunteers blow the Ithaca Farmers Market Trailhead. That’s because on Saturday mornings the trailhead is jammed with market visitors enjoying pitas, burritos, coffee, cider donuts and more. We blow the bricks and surrounding trails, and keep the edge vegetation pruned so you can enjoy the views of the Inlet.

Have you heard of the Friends of Stewart Park Adopt-A-Trail program? Trail Adopters choose a section of the Cayuga Waterfront Trail to care for. Doug Dylla and a few of his Finger Lakes Cycling Club pals have adopted the trail spur from the Farmers Market to 3rd street. Thank you to Doug for coming out on Friday, October 27 to work on his adopted section. Along with FSP’s Landscape Gardener Frank Muller, Doug cleared leaves and debris making the trail cleaner and safer for everyone to enjoy.


If you might like to become a Trail Adopter, email Rick Manning at rick@friendsofstewartpark.org for more info!

Two New CWT Benches Installed!

FSP recently installed two custom-designed benches along the trail, one in Stewart Park and one in Cass. The benches are placed to the side of a large concrete slab to provide space for wheelchairs, strollers, or other mobility aids to be placed adjacent to the bench. Special thanks to bench sponsors Carol Mallison and Vaidehi Pidaparti for their generous contributions. Along with these benches, two new gliders have gone in at Stewart Park. Thank you again to Jamie and Tammy Tedeschi, Todd and Erika Goodyear and Charlene Temple for these swing-benches.

Black Diamond Trail Bridge Appears!

An impressive new pedestrian bridge is in the works linking the west end of Cecil A. Malone Drive to the Floral Avenue Trail. The trail spans the Flood Channel to maintain the integrity of the Olympic-size rowing course. Once completed the trail will be an excellent pedestrian and bike connection from West Hill to Wegman’s and the adjacent commercial district. It also represents the first step in the southern extension of the Black Diamond Trail which will connect to Buttermilk Falls and Robert H. Treman State Parks and to the Gateway Trail and South Hill Recreationway. Special thanks to Tim Logue, City Engineer, for bringing this project to fruition.


Photo credit Ari Kissiloff, 14850.com. See many more bridge pictures and videos posted on the Facebook Group, Black Diamond Trail, Ithaca to Taughannock

Making Safer School to Trail Connections

Frank’s Art & Photography Show

FSP is so grateful to have Landscape Gardener Frank Muller on our staff to help take care of our trailheads, overlooks and special gardens in Stewart Park and along the Waterfront Trail. Frank is also a passionate naturalist and talented photographer, taking many of his pictures while out on the Cayuga Waterfront Trail and in Stewart Park, including the one at the top of this enews. Currently, Frank’s photos are on display at Greenstar. Find them in the cafe near the windows. They’ll be up through the end of December. You can also follow Frank’s Photography on Instagram and Facebook.

Volunteer Highlight

You can help in the park like Code Red Robotics.
Learn more >>

Project Highlight

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We built a new Splash Pad!
Learn more >>

Sponsor the Carousel

You can provide free summer carousel rides! Learn more >>