Thornden Park Association

05/24/2026

Saturday, May 23, 2026. Total 2026 Volunteer hours 194

Marilyn Zaleon and I met at the Madison Street entrance to Thornden Park and planted four trays of annuals in the beds. It was cold and drizzling, but we were able to plant Coleus, Zinnia and Marigold. We will have to return to fill in two more areas. Thank you Courtney at Syracuse Parks & Recreation.

Miranda

05/08/2026

DISCOVERY CAMP 2026 UPDATE

There remain some openings in three of the seven camps:
Camp #3, August 3 - 3 spots
Camp #4, August 10 - 8 spots
Camp #5, August 17 - 4 spots

FOR MORE INFORMATION EMAIL: [email protected].

05/03/2026

Saturday, May 2 Total 2026 Volunteer Hours 191
Look at what these eleven amazing people accomplished in 2 hours! Sigma Lambda Alpha has volunteered in Thornden Park every year for decades. An amazing tradition. We weeded, edged and mulched the Carriage House beds. Thank you Marty Benzinger for organizing the group and thank you Dan Reeder, Miranda Hine and Kate Auwearter for helping guide and support and for bringing tools.

04/28/2026

May Day is this Friday. Join us.
May Day in Thornden Park

This year’s Annual May Day celebration, hosted by Thornden Morris, will take place on Friday, May 1st at 6:00 a.m. (dawn) at the Thornden Park Water Tower. This year marks the 45 th
anniversary of this traditional and entertaining celebration, which has always beenenthusiastically supported by the local community. This year’s guest team is the Bassett Street
Hounds.

The festivities begin with dancers from all the teams performing the Winster Processional to take the stage. The procession is followed by Morris dancing, interspersed with speeches and singing. For fertility and good luck, there is the handing out branches of May greenery and May cake. Next, at approximately 6:30, a mumming play will be performed. Finally, a participatory May Pole Dance closes the event. The audience, often numbering from 100 to 200, particularly enjoys
the play and the May Pole dance.

Every May Day morning marks the once-only performance of a new mumming play. These 15-minute comedies follow an ancient plot model, a protagonist who is brought down by his character flaws but learns from the experience and emerges a wiser person. The play celebrates : the themes of light and dark, death and renewal, the end of winter and return of the sun as well as fertility of the soil. The plays are written in rhyming verse and often have topical themes.

To see pictures from past years’ celebrations, please visit https://thorndenmorris.org/may-day/, or click here to visit our page.
For more information, email Nancy McCracken, Thornden Morris, at [email protected]
Press Release from Ann Horan.

Each year the Thornden team hosts the May Day Celebration for Syracuse Morris and rapper teams, starting at 6am, this year at the Thornden Park water tower hill. These celebrations have been held, rain or shine, on May 1 every year since 1981.

04/26/2026

🍃I Love My Park Day - Saturday, May 2nd!🍃
Join us next Saturday, May 2, to show your love for Thornden Park.💚 There are two great ways to get involved:
🪏Loop Trail Building (9AM): Help us finish mulching the new loop walking trail! Meet at the pavilion next to the playground (on your left after the football field). Equipment will be provided but feel free to bring your own rake, shovel, garden fork or wheelbarrow.
🌸Carriage House Bed Clean-Up (10AM): Team up with ESF’s Sigma Lambda Alpha to prep the carriage house beds for spring and summer planting. Meet at the carriage house (on your left from the Madison Street entrance to the park). No tools or experience needed.
Bring a friend and make a difference in your park! 💚

04/25/2026

April 25, Earth Day. Total 2026 Volunteer Hours 169.
Five hale and hardy individuals braved the cold and rain and collected a pick up truck's worth of trash from around the Water Tower. Imagine if people could dispose of their trash appropriately and then the 10 hours of volunteer work could be spent on other things! Thank you Kate Auwaerter and others.

04/20/2026

We are looking for Discovery Camp teachers for two weeks in July.
Thornden Park Discovery Camp 2026
We are looking for teachers for the Thornden Park Discovery Camps. Thornden Park Association and The New School each year co-sponsor six weeks of its highly successful summer Discovery Camp for children in Thornden’s historic Carriage House. Children explore Thornden Park’s many features, enjoying outdoor activities, which integrate, art, science and language art, swimming and/or the sprinkler.

At these full day camps (from 9 am until 3 pm) enrollment is limited to 20. Staffing includes one teacher and two junior assistants and one volunteer.

For more information please contact Miranda Hine at [email protected].

04/18/2026

While weeding this morning I was admiring this glorious white pine planted decades ago by Katy Moran. She worked hard for our neighborhood and park. This tree is only one of her gifts to us all.

04/18/2026

Saturday, April 18 Total 2026 Volunteer Hours 159
It was a stunning morning when eight members from Delta Sigma Pi worked alongside Miranda Hine and Marilyn Zaleon at the Lily Pond and Nancy Haswell at the Herb Garden. They weeded and planted and made a difference! Thank you Lily Donohue for organizing your group and helping us out.

04/17/2026

Please join us for Earth Day spring cleaning at Thornden Park! We will meet at the Water Tower, Saturday, April 25, at 10am. We will have bags and a limited number of pickers. Please bring gloves.
Hope to see you there!