‘Happy Birthday, Mr. Olmsted!’ Bicentennial Celebration
May 14, 2022 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
| FreeFrederick Law Olmsted’s 200th anniversary will be celebrated in Essex County Anderson Park with live music, a display of antique bicycles, children’s activities, and a theatrical living-history portrayal by Joseph Smith of Olmsted, whose extraordinary career encompassed much more than pioneering landscape design. Free. (Raindate: May 15) Visit the Friends of Anderson Park Facebook page for any rain date rescheduling.
Schedule: 1-4pm
1 p.m. The birthday party begins!
2 p.m. Tree-planting ceremony with Essex County officials
2:30 p.m. Cake! (Thank you, Brookdale ShopRite!)
2:45 p.m. Puppet show by PuppetTime, under the Olmsted Oak
3:30-4 p.m. “A Ramble With Frederick Law Olmsted” performance by actor Joseph Smith, followed by an audience Q.&A.
All Afternoon
MUSIC by Richard Stillman’s three-piece brass rhythm band
VINTAGE BICYCLES presented by the Wheelmen of New Jersey & Pennsylvania.
CHILDREN’S ACTIVITIES near the Olmsted Oak include a scavenger hunt, crafts, a science project (“Measuring the Olmsted Oak”), sidewalk-chalk art, Victorian hoop-rolling and jump rope, and a puppet show (at 2:45 p.m.).
COMMUNITY GROUPS are here to tell you what they do:
- Bike & Walk Montclair
- Brookdale Park Conservancy
- Eagle Rock Reservation Conservancy
- Essex County Parks Archives
- Friends of Anderson Park
- Garden Club of Montclair
- Montclair Environmental Commission
- Montclair History Center
- Victorian Society (Northern New Jersey Chapter)
Sponsored by Friends of Anderson Park. Funding has been made possible in part by the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State, through funds administered by the Essex County Division of Cultural & Historic Affairs.
