Join us in Utica for Proctor-Olmsted Day, a celebration of the local creations (two parks, a parkway, and 6 neighborhoods) of renowned American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and the local family, the Proctors, who brought him to Utica over a century ago.  This event will take place in Frederick T. Proctor Park, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, on Saturday, September 10. The weekend of events takes place in three parks and is open to the public; it includes a free day at the Utica Zoo in Roscoe Conkling Park and a citywide soccer tournament in Thomas R. Proctor Park (the latter being only a 3-5 minute walk from F.T. Proctor Park).  For more info on Utica's Olmsted heritage, check out olmstedcity.org, particularly the new series of short (6-7-minute) videos called "Utica:  An Olmsted City."

 

Proctor-Olmsted Day will center on a COAA Rally on the edges of F.T. Proctor's 16-acre meadow and will include other elements, including the "mobile museum" of the local children's museum, food trucks, tours of the park, the dedication of a new garden in the park, and possibly the participation of the Utica "Zoomobile," among other potential programming.

 

We hope to make this a special weekend for COAA participants. The weekend will with start with a reception (likely to happen at a private local collectible car museum) on Friday. Additional weekend COAA events will include a tour of Utica's Stanley Theater (a 1928 "movie palace" that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places), dinner on Saturday (location TBA), and a farewell reception at a brand-new German-style Brauhaus near Utica on Sunday.  

 

For those looking for other activities, the Utica area offers an "A-to-Z Food Tour" that just received two 2022 New York State Tourism Excellence Awards (check out https://www.oneidacountytourism.com/), the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute (one of the finest regional art museums in the country, featuring a gallery by Philip Johnson and a museum of American decorative arts), and the Saranc Brewery tour.