In the 1890s, Renwick Park, now Stewart Park, hosted regular and well attended performances by musical luminaries such as the Paddy Conway Band in the bandstand located north of the Water Tower and between the Picnic and Wharton Pavilions. Friends of Stewart Park is proposing bringing back performance to this lakefront space by creating a stage and a decorative plaza in the current asphalt parking lot between the pavilions. Friends of Stewart Park is exploring design options and feasibility of a bandshell design that would be located along the lake edge, centered on the pavilions, and would accommodate the Ithaca Concert Band, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and other popular music performances and festivals.
Historically this site between the Picnic and Dance Pavilions was home to a distinctive Water Tower and a Bandshell that hosted nightly concerts throughout the summer season, attracting thousands to the shore of Cayuga Lake. Neither the tower nor bandshell still exist, the tower having been destroyed in Hurricane Hazel in 1954. What remains is a parking lot and Friends of Stewart Park has a vision for it.
Since the mid-1980s many conceptual plans have been proposed, most focused on creating a Plaza that could host concerts, dance and theatre performances, and movie screenings, as well as constructing an Overlook of Cayuga Lake. Friends of Stewart Park, with funding provided by Tompkins County Tourism Program, are now developing designs for the Renwick Plaza and Cayuga Lake Overlook, an important area between the park’s historic pavilions, with the goal of re-establishing this space as the cultural and recreational hub it once was.
The study will examine these ideas in the context of the ongoing restoration of the Picnic Pavilion and Wharton Studio Museum and Park Center and consider how that space should be best used, including accommodating events and current programs (day camp, maintenance, etc.), providing parking and access for loading, beautifying the setting for viewing Cayuga Lake, and hosting performances and special events.
Two transformative park projects—the existing Cayuga Waterfront Trail and the proposed Cayuga Lake Blueway Trail—will also be carefully considered as site plans are developed to ensure that the trails are protected and enhanced by any site improvements being proposed for the Historic Pavilion Complex.
Friends of Stewart Park and Wharton Studio Museum invite you to be part of history. Join us in shaping Stewart Park’s future and making the Historic Pavilion Complex the park’s cultural and recreational destination for everyone—resident and visitor alike – to enjoy and take pride in.
