Events
Stewart Park Carousel is free Saturday August 2 and Sunday August 3, sposnored by Ithaca Waldorf School. Learn more at www.ithacawaldorf.org
Stewart Park Carousel is free Saturday August 2 and Sunday August 3, sposnored by Ithaca Waldorf School. Learn more at www.ithacawaldorf.org
Save the Date for FSP and Wharton Studio Museum’s Tenth Annual Party for the Park on September 20. More details to come!
WaterMusic & Dancing on the Trail is an annual celebration of acoustic music and human-powered movement on Ithaca’s waterfront for the enjoyment of paddlers, trail users and music lovers alike. WaterMusic presents a variety of music and dance performances by solo artists, tiny bands and community music groups. This year our featured performers include Jorge Cuevas and the Caribe All-Stars, Joe Crookston, Nikolai Ruskin, the Triphammer Arts Dancers, Grassanova, Steven Stull, Naomi Sommers, Rick Manning & Tom Hodgson, Downstairs Bluegrass Pickers, Deep Dive Old Time Jammers, Skylark Recorder Ensemble, Ithaca Ukes, Canaan Session Fiddlers, The Notorious Stringbusters & more.
Ten years ago, in 2015, we celebrated the completion of the Cayuga Waterfront Trail at a Farmers Market ribbon cutting. This year, the Ithaca Farmers Market is the gateway into WaterMusic where you can enjoy music and dance and walk, bike, or paddle along the Waterfront Trail to enjoy music, dance and food.
The Market will host five performance areas - three inside the open air pavilion and two outside along the Waterfront Trail at the Market Pier and the CWT Trailhead. From the market you can paddle the Inlet or walk and bike to enjoy performance areas at the Crew Cove Overlook, Lookout Point, along the Cass Park Trail across from the Children’s Garden and Union Fields, and at the Cass Park Dragon Boat Docks.
BREAKING NEWS: Luna’s Food Truck with be a the Farmers Market for WaterMusic!
PADDLE RENTAL DISCOUNT: Paddle-N-More is offering 20% off of kayak rentals for WaterMusic. See advert below for details.
Musicians - you are invited to play music along the trail in Cass Park in Performance Area 9. Find a location where you can be heard by trail users and paddlers and please keep your distance from adjacent performers.
CLICK HERE to download a pdf of the Performance Areas Map and Schedule, shown below.
Friends of Stewart Park (FSP) and Wharton Studio Museum (WSM) invite you to an open house and design presentation all about the upcoming Wharton Studio & Café, the next major revitalization project in Stewart Park. Join us right where the project will be in front of the Wharton Studio Building, across the parking lot from the Picnic “Large” Pavilion in Stewart Park!
Meet members of the project team -- the planners, architects, engineers, landscape architects and designers
See renderings and drawings of the project
Chat with FSP and WSM staff all about the project
Get your questions answered
Cornell Outdoor Education, Paddle-N-More, and Friends of Stewart Park invite you to the Access Outdoors Expo. Learn about adaptive sports programs and resources in our community. Stewart Park near Paddle-N-More.
HISTORY WALK AND TALK
SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 2025
We invite you to a tour of historic Stewart Park hosted by Friends of Stewart Park, Wharton Studio Museum & Historic Ithaca. The tour will focus on the park's history and its current revitalization. This tour will be walking throughout the park please be sure to wear proper footwear and bring a water bottle. Meet on the Waterfront Trail in front of the Picnic “Large” Pavilion.
The 7th Annual Ithaca Reggae Fest returns to Stewart Park in Ithaca, NY, expanding to three days from June 20-22, 2025! INFO AT: https://www.ithacareggaefest.com/
Friday Night kicks things off with a FREE Block Party
Saturday features headlining performances from Kabaka Pyramid and Mihali
Sunday welcomes the legendary Steel Pulse celebrating their 50th Anniversary, joined by Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad for the first-ever Sunday lineup!
Get ready for an unforgettable weekend of reggae, community, and celebration by the lake!
The 7th Annual Ithaca Reggae Fest returns to Stewart Park in Ithaca, NY, expanding to three days from June 20-22, 2025! INFO AT: https://www.ithacareggaefest.com/
Friday Night kicks things off with a FREE Block Party
Saturday features headlining performances from Kabaka Pyramid and Mihali
Sunday welcomes the legendary Steel Pulse celebrating their 50th Anniversary, joined by Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad for the first-ever Sunday lineup!
Get ready for an unforgettable weekend of reggae, community, and celebration by the lake!
The 7th Annual Ithaca Reggae Fest returns to Stewart Park in Ithaca, NY, expanding to three days from June 20-22, 2025! INFO AT: https://www.ithacareggaefest.com/
Friday Night kicks things off with a FREE Block Party
Saturday features headlining performances from Kabaka Pyramid and Mihali
Sunday welcomes the legendary Steel Pulse celebrating their 50th Anniversary, joined by Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad for the first-ever Sunday lineup!
Get ready for an unforgettable weekend of reggae, community, and celebration by the lake!
POSTPONED
Stay Tuned - we’ll try again for this event later this summer!
Join us for a special Sunset Tour and Champagne Toast to the Revitalization of Stewart Park
Friday, June 13, 6:00 PM, Stewart Park, Ithaca
Friends of Stewart Park staff will lead a guided walk through the park’s newest improvements, share exciting upcoming projects, and finish with a complimentary glass of sparkling wine or non-alcoholic cider in the Tea Pavilion as the sun sets over Cayuga Lake.
It’s our way of saying thank you—and looking ahead together.
RSVP now to save your spot! Meet on the lakeside lawn of the Large Pavilion.
Email: meloney@friendsofstewartpark.org
Phone: 607-319-4766
Our ANNUAL WATERFRONT CLEANUP, will be Saturday, April 12 from 10 am to noon!
Together, we'll practice good stewardship of our park and Cayuga Lake’s waterfront, with trash cleanup, pavilion cleaning, and trimming. Dress for the weather, wear boots or sturdy shoes, and bring gloves, garbage bags, litter grabbers, rakes or anything else that will help.
Thanks to Zero Waste Ithaca for partnering with FSP on this cleanup. Meet by the Wharton Building (DPW).
If the weather is terrible, we’ll reschedule to April 12th.
Thursday March 20, 7:00 PM, Cinemapolis
$20 Suggested Donation
$15-$50 Sliding Scale per Ticket
Proceeds Benefit an Interpretive Sign for the Fuertes Bird Sanctuary Overlook.
This event kicks off the Ithaca Native Landscape Symposium.
MORE ABOUT THE EVENT:
With so many competing pressures for land and resources, conservation is increasingly expected to achieve a wide range of social, economic, and ecological goals and to improve the return on conservation investments. However, directing conservation efforts to the most important places at the most critical times is challenging because it requires extensive and detailed information.
In her talk, Amanda will discuss how birds give us a powerful lens through which we identify and implement strategies to conserve biodiversity and address global challenges facing people and the planet. She illustrates how eBird, a global participatory science project run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, can facilitate the development of flexible, adaptable, creative, and economical approaches to conservation.
Amanda Rodewald is the Garvin Professor and Senior Director of the Center for Avian Population Studies at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at Cornell University. She also serves as a Faculty Director for the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. Prior to joining Cornell in 2013, Amanda spent 13 years as a professor at Ohio State University. Amanda received a B.S. degree in Wildlife Biology from University of Montana, a M.Sc. in Zoology from University of Arkansas, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from Pennsylvania State University. She works at the intersection of ecology and conservation, often drawing upon the social sciences, and she uses both field-based studies and participatory science to address conservation challenges in temperate and tropical systems. She has published over 190 scientific papers, an Ornithology textbook, 10 book chapters, and over 70 popular articles. Amanda is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Ornithological Society, from which she received the William Brewster Award in 2022. She also has served four terms on the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has testified before Congress, and regularly engages with practitioners and decision-makers to develop smart and innovative approaches to conservation that can accommodate social and ecological needs.
Friends of Stewart Park invites you to a free guided bird walk with Meena Haribal
Meet at Stewart Park, in the northeast parking lot--as soon as you enter the park, take your first immediate right at the stop sign. You will be facing the lake as soon as you make the right turn, and this parking lot is only about 100 yds from the entrance.
Bring a pair of binoculars if you can--there will be a scope and a few pairs of binoculars to share.
This walk will be on level terrain the entire time, no hills. We'll start along the lake shore and should see a variety of ducks, geese, mergansers, loons and gulls. Then we'll head into the woods in the adjacent Renwick Sanctuary--looking for forest birds such as wrens, nuthatches, titmouse and many other species. Possibly great horned owls roosting, but no guarantees! Dress in layers for the weather, including hat and gloves. The lake shore can be windy!
About Meena Haribal: She has been an avid naturalist for over 50 years! She has special interests in birds, butterflies, dragonflies/damselflies, and plants. Now retired, Meena was a chemical ecologist by profession, studying interactions and behaviors of organisms mediated by chemistry. Her interest in birds began in India where she was a very active member of the Bombay Natural History Society. She has written two books on insects and is also an avid photographer, nature sound recorder and world traveler.
Experience stellar nature images by accomplished local photographers, presented on the big-screen, accompanied by live string music.
This unique multimedia fundraiser combines photographs and live music, highlights the striking landscape and inhabitants of Stewart Park and the Cayuga Waterfront Trail, while celebrating local photographers and musicians inspired by our natural world.
All proceeds benefit a Pollinator Garden and Area Enhancements for Stewart Park’s New Splash Pad.
Featuring local artists:
Musicians: Tenzin Chopak & Emmett Scott, Dave Davies, Brian Earle, Benny Bleu, and the Falling Waters Trio (Hope Grietzer, Tom Hodgson & Rick Manning).
Featured photographers: Dede Hatch, Tenzin Chopak, Rachel Hogancamp, Julian Euell, Frank Muller and Dan Segal.
Community Artists: Kris Altucher, Manuel Amzallag, Muhammad Arif, Tommy Beers, Linda Byard, Paul Dawson, Linda Edsall, Coleen Foley, Sonia Jirka, Tracey Lynn Myers, Bob Riter, Tonya VanCamp and organizations providing photos: Finger Lakes Land Trust, Wharton Studio Museum & Friends of Stewart Park.
Advanced tickets available at tax-deductible donation levels of $15, $20, and $25 plus fees.
Tickets at the Door available at tax-deductible donation levels of $20, $25, and $30 plus fees.
Join us for the ribbon cutting of “Ithaca’s Waterway to the World”, a new interpretive sign created by Friends of Stewart Park and made possible by the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.
This event will be followed by a tour of historic Stewart Park hosted by Friends of Stewart Park, Wharton Studio Museum & Historic Ithaca. The tour will focus on the park's history and its current revitalization.
Join Friends of Stewart Park and Wharton Studio Museum for our 8th annual Party for the Park fundraiser!
We’re celebrating a groundbreaking year for Stewart Park with its being added to the National Historic Register and the literal imminent groundbreaking for the Splash Pad and seasonal restroom, plus upcoming Picnic Pavilion Addition. The addition paves the way for the Wharton Studio & Cafe’.
There will be music, food by Chef Jack Cesari & Company, dessert and local beverages. Remarks, awards and a raffle round out the night.
If you cannot join us, please consider making a gift towards the event.
Thank you to this year’s Party for the Park Sponsors:
Bero Architecture
Bousquet Holstein PLLC
City Harbor
Coughlin and Gerhart LLP
Fingerlakes Wealth Management
Iron Design
La Tourelle Hotel and Spa
Parkitects
The Plantsmen Nursery
Play By Design
Visions Federal Credit Union
On the Cayuga Waterfront Trail and Cayuga Inlet between Inlet Island,
the Ithaca Farmers Market and Dragon Boat Docks in Cass Park
WaterMusic & Dancing on the Trail is an annual quirky and fun celebration of music and dance performed at various locations on the Cayuga Inlet and along the Cayuga Waterfront Trail for the enjoyment of paddlers and trail users. Join us for an evening of surprises along Ithaca’s lovely Waterfront Trail between Lookout Point (Boatyard Grill), the Ithaca Farmers Market and the Dragon Boat docks.
THIS YEAR’S PERFORMERS:
1. Fly By Night (Old Time) at Dragon Boat Dock
2. Nikolai Ruskin (Violin) at Inlet Overlook
3. Triphammer Arts Dancers at Cass Bird Garden
4. London McDaniel (Jazz) at Rowing Finish Line
5. Djug Django (Swing) at Lookout Point
6. Six Mile Craic (Irish) at Crew Cove Overlook
7. Sow’s Ear at Farmers Market Trailhead
Please note that there is a wedding at the market on the 12th so the Pier will not be a WaterMusic Stage.
8. WaterGrass (Bluegrass) on Floating Stage
This program is made possible in part with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants program from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the office of the Governor and NYS Legislature, and from Tompkins County; administered by the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County.
Join Cayuga Bird Club’s Lisa Wood for a guided spring bird walk in Stewart Park!
Bird walks are happening the 3rd Saturday of the month in April, May and June. Dress for the weather, bring your binoculars, and meet at the Cascadilla Boathouse at 9:00 am.
Join Cayuga Bird Club’s Marc Devokaitis for a guided spring bird walk in Stewart Park!
Bird walks are happening the 3rd Saturday of the month in April, May and June. Dress for the weather, bring your binoculars, and meet at the Cascadilla Boathouse at 9:00 am.
Join Cayuga Bird Club ‘s Suan Yong and Ken Haas for a guided spring bird walk in Stewart Park.
Bird Walks are happening the 3rd Saturday of the month in April, May and June. Dress for the weather, bring your binoculars, and meet at the Cascadilla Boathouse at 9:00 am.
You can help in the park like Code Red Robotics.
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We built a new Splash Pad!
Learn more >>
You can provide free summer carousel rides! Learn more >>
