Cultural Life
Ithaca's Vibrant Downtown
Ithaca's central business district, recently named to the National Register of Historic Places, is home to businesses, banks, government offices, restaurants and theaters. They cluster around Ithaca's lively downtown pedestrian mall, maintained by the Ithaca Downtown Partnership. The Ithaca Commons is the city's living room, where residents and visitors may congregate and mingle while browsing shop windows or restaurant menus, selecting the perfect gift, listening to free summer concerts, sipping a hot coffee or a frosty drink, or simply watching the promenade. In summer, people gather around the central fountain, and contradancers whirl to the sound of fiddles on Monday evenings. Once you've lived here awhile, you will almost always find a familiar face or two in the crowd.
Shopping and Dining
Foodies will find much to love among the restaurants of Ithaca. Palates from the carnivorous to the vegetarian, the classic to the adventurous, and the frugal to the extravagant will all enjoy fare that satisfies. Thai curry, Japanese sake, and Spanish tapas are steps away from hamburgers, burritos, chicken wings, and salads. One can find pizza by the slice, sumptuous desserts, microbrews, and fabulous cocktails. The Moosewood Restaurant, a pioneering vegetarian eatery that gained national recognition through its popular series of cookbooks, is located downtown in an old brick schoolhouse. Further afield are elegant establishments whose master chefs attract devoted patrons and their families, friends and colleagues.
The Ithaca Commons is the city's central shopping district. Most stores in this area are locally-owned, offering unique clothing and home décor, including many gift items made by regional artisans. Distinctive jewelry, art class, ceramics, woodwork, fibercraft, and notecards are well-represented in downtown stores, though you'll also find office supplies, shoes, outdoor gear, and bicycles in the mix. National retailers and food franchises are clustered at the Pyramid Mall in Lansing, and along the Meadow Street/Route 13 corridor on the city's west end.
Great restaurants can also be found in the County's villages, overlooking scenic countryside and along the winetrail.
Visual and Performing Arts
Local movie theatres offer films for every taste. Two independent filmhouses, Cinemapolis and Fall Creek Pictures, specialize in foreign, independent and documentary film and offer the best popcorn in town. On east hill, Cornell Cinema offers an extensive program of second-run blockbusters, experimental and student films, classics, and art film. Live theatre, too, is thriving in Ithaca: the Kitchen Theatre Company gives performances year-round in its intimate downtown space, while the Hangar Theater, located in Cass Park along Route 89, offers a spirited summer season that always includes a musical.
The city has one of the most varied music scenes outside of the Big Apple, often catching acts en route from New York City to larger upstate cities. A popular venue for traveling acts is the State Theater, a grand, historic structure renovated by Historic Ithaca. You can hear everything from a Theramin to the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, from Yo-Yo Ma and the Juilliard String Quartet to the Paul Winter Consort, David Byrne, Doc Watson, and Tuvan throat-singing. Several smaller clubs and coffeehouses host acoustic singer/songwriters, heavy metal and gangsta rap, and everything in between.
Other local perfoming arts entities include the Ithaca Opera, Ithaca Ballet, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Cayuga Vocal Ensemble, the Ithaca Ageless Jazz Band, and several community choruses. Music and theater programs are strong at Ithaca College and Cornell as well. Instruction in the arts is offered through the Community School for Music and Arts (CSMA) and Ithaca Talent Education.
The Johnson Museum of Art, a distinctive structure on Cornell's east hill, was designed by I.M. Pei and boasts an impressive permanent collection, several galleries for traveling exhibitions, and a breathtaking 360-degree view of Ithaca from the windows of its upper floors. Work by local artists is shown at the State of the Art Gallery, an artist's cooperative, the Upstairs Gallery and in a number of coffeehouses and restaurants around town. The Ink Shop is a nonprofit printmaking facility and fine arts press that provides equipment for lithography, etching, silkscreen, relief, and computer imaging, as well as a darkroom. Ceramicists may arrange to use the Cornell Ceramics Studio, located on campus in Willard Straight Hall.
Other attractions include the Discovery Trail, Sciencenter, Museum of the Earth, and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
Books and Libraries
Ithaca is a book-lover's haven. Bookstores include the popular national chains, beloved locally-owned booksellers, and used book purveyors. The Friends of the Library group supports the Tompkins County Public Library by selling over a quarter of a million books each year at one of the largest used-book sales in the country; both locals and book dealers from as far away as Oregon and Florida camp out the night before to get first crack at the wares. The Ulysses Philomathic Library, located up the lake in Trumansburg, is a small branch of the Finger Lakes Library System. Back at Cornell, the Durland Alternatives Library is open to the general public and specializes in books, CDs, and movies around themes of peace, social justice, and alternative culture. The Book Barn of the Finger Lakes located in the village of Dryden houses nearly 98,000 volumes with some dating to the 16th century.
Food
From its humble beginnings in 1973, the Ithaca Farmer's Market has become a local institution and a national award-winning public space. The covered walkway at Steamboat Landing features over 150 vendors from within a 30-mile radius who sell produce, prepared foods, and crafts. The dock and landscaped play area are perfect for family weekend outings.
Greenstar Cooperative Market is a member-owned and democratically-run food co-op selling organic and natural products, bulk foods, hot and cold prepared foods, baked goods, and housewares. A low annual membership fee earns one a small discount on all purchases, and working members earn a deeper discount; however, one needn't be a member to shop at the co-op.
Local food purveyors include: Gimme Coffee, Maxies's, Purity ice cream, and Ithaca Beer
Other grocery stores include Wegman's, Tops, P&C, and Aldi.
Festivals
During the first weekend of June, the city explodes with fun, laughter, and local pride during the Ithaca Festival. This annual event, kicked off with the ever-popular parade, draws 35,000 people to downtown Ithaca and Stewart Park for performances, games, food, and general merrymaking.
The Fingerlakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance takes place at the Trumansburg Fairground for four days in mid-July. Now in its 16th year, the festival features a headliner act and scores of performers from local, regional, and coffeehouse circuits, and emphasizes world, old-time and traditional music. Over the years, headliners have included 10,000 Maniacs, Rusted Root, Kelly Willis, and Rickie Lee Jones. On-site campers dance 'till dawn and musicians form spontaneous jam sessions. Begun as a fundraiser for AIDSwork, the festival draws some 15,000 visitors during its run. Its success has spawned two sister festivals, held spring and fall in Silk Hope, NC.
When the holiday season has passed, Ithacans relax and continue to lift their spirits at Light in Winter, a three-day festival of music, art, science, and the natural world. Events are held day and night, indoors and out, at various venues throughout the city. The concerts, lectures, and nature walks draw a combined attendance of over 6,000 people.
