Ithaca, New York is practically synonymous with good eating. Named one of “America’s Foodiest Towns” by Bon Appetit magazine, we are the birthplace of the ice cream sundae, the home of the world-famous Moosewood Restaurant, and we boast more eateries per capita than New York City. This year, the Downtown Ithaca Alliance is excited to announce a brand-new, four-day celebration of our diverse and vibrant dining scene: during Bite of Ithaca – June 30 to July 3 – you can create your own culinary tour of the town, enjoying $5.00 “bites” for lunch and/or dinner at a variety of local restaurants, cafés, and bars. Gather your family, friends, or coworkers for lunch, or get together after work! Stop in, grab a couple of “bites,” and move onto the next stop for more samples!

With over twenty restaurants participating, you are sure to find a multitude of new mini-dishes to tantalize your palate. Participants include the newly-renovated Rulloff’s Restaurant & Bar in Collegetown, best known for its signature burgers and sandwiches; Mia Tapas Bar & Restaurant on the Commons, featuring fine cuisine from many Asian countries; Atlas Bowl in Trumansburg, providing patrons with great pub food, a full bar, and bowling on vintage lanes; and Coltivare on South Cayuga Street, which offers a true “Farm to Bistro” experience in a modern-rustic atmosphere. A full list of eateries and their featured “bites” can be found at www.biteofithaca.com.

The Bite Passport, available in print at all participating restaurants and on your iPhone in the iTunes App Store, is your portable guide to dining all over Ithaca and Tompkins County during Bite of Ithaca. As you embark on your four-day journey, you can mark off your culinary conquests (or post comments on the mobile app) and enter to win a $250.00 Downtown Ithaca gift card accepted at 100 different downtown stores and restaurants!

Downtown Ithaca Alliance enthusiastically announces the full schedule for the CFCU Summer Concert Series! Free and fun for the whole family, these performances will take place at 6:00 PM each Thursday between June 25 and September 10, 2015. The series will return to the State Theatre Marquee (107 West State Street in downtown Ithaca, New York) for the first half of the season, and it will move to the brand-new Bernie Milton Pavilion on the Ithaca Commons in early August.

Bands will include perennial local favorites like Sim Redmond Band, Jimkata, and Big Mean Sound Machine, as well as national acts like ANTI- Records recording artist Son Little who is on tour with Mumford & Suns this summer.

The series will cover just about every genre under the sun. Latin dance aficionados will love El Rumbon and free dance lessons. Hip-hop fans won’t want to miss The Gunpoets with Ave Mack and Greatest Common Factor. Radio London and the Jeff Love Band will deliver double doses of ’60s and ’70s rock ‘n roll and soul. Kevin Kinsella and the Analogue Sons will get everyone swaying with reggae and roots rock. As a Wednesday GrassRoots preview, Sophistafunk will win over the crowd with their huge sound and compelling stage-presence, following a high-energy opening set of old school funk by DJ Ha-Meen.

CFCU, the new title sponsor of the concert series, will be hosting a food drive at their booth each week. Attendees can donate cans and enter a raffle to win a Dillon DR500 electric guitar autographed by artists from the series lineup courtesy of McNeil’s Music. CFCU will also be selling t-shirts for $5 (and giving them away for free to CFCU members with proof of ID) with proceeds benefiting The United Way. Other sponsors include Seneca Beverage and Six Mile Creek Winery, who will be providing a rotating selection of craft beer and wine for purchase during each of the concerts, as well as The Haunt, The Dock, and GreenStar.

On August 27, a very special surprise guest performer will kick off the Commons Celebration Weekend, a three-day extravaganza of music and festivities to mark the unveiling of the newly renovated and redesigned Ithaca Commons pedestrian mall. A second surprise guest will take the stage the following week.

Full schedule for the CFCU Summer Concert Series:

25-Jun   Radio London
2-Jul      Kevin Kinsella and The Analogue Sons
9-Jul      Big Mean Sound Machine
15-Jul    GRASSROOTS- Sophistafunk – DJ Ha-Meen
23-Jul    Son Little – Stone Cold Miracle
30-Jul    El Rumbon w/ Free Dance Lessons
6-Aug    The Gunpoets, Ave Mack, and Greatest Common Factor
13-Aug  Jimkata
20-Aug  The Jeff Love Band
27-Aug  Special Surprise Guest TBA!
3-Sep    Special Surprise Guest TBA!
10-Sep  The Sim Redmond Band

Can’t wait for June 25? Head to bit.ly/SummerConcertSeriesPlaylist to listen to a preview playlist featuring all the performers in the series. And be sure to check into Downtown Ithaca’s website, Twitter (#downtownithaca, #CFCUConcerts), Facebook, and Instagram for weekly updates to the beer menu as well as new music from the artists.

Ithaca, New York’s biggest public works project in a generation is in the home stretch. The curb-to-curb renovation of the Ithaca Commons, the economic and cultural heart of the community and one of America’s last remaining pedestrian malls, is on schedule for substantial completion on July 31. A two-day gala celebration with live music and family festivities will take place on August 28-29.

Says Tammy Baker, Outreach Coordinator for the Commons Project Team, “It’s exciting to see the plans and renderings that we’ve been working with for the past several years finally come to life. As soon as the first set of tables and chairs were unveiled, people were sitting down to eat lunch and chat with friends. And now with the trees and shrubs along the eastern end, you can really get a sense of the new Commons.”

Along with the new furniture and plantings, many other major surface elements have taken shape in the last weeks. The Trolley Circle in the center of the pedestrian mall has been completely paved and is open for pedestrian access. Between Trolley Circle and the eastern end of the Commons at Aurora Street, the pavers are 100 percent complete and the gateway arch has been erected. On Bank Alley, pavers are complete and the new Bernie Milton Pavilion is up.

Even small details are now being put in place. Several commemorative plaques have been salvaged and have been reinstalled, including the Bernie Milton and City Underfoot plaques in Bank Alley. Child of Ithaca, a sculpture by Robert Bertoia commemorating the life of Erin Schlather, has returned to the western block of the Commons. Much of the Commons has been beautifully landscaped, with flowering trees, many native perennials, and decorative railings around the planters.

Construction crews are going full steam ahead on the several remaining tasks. The concrete slabs will be finished in June and the noisy digging in front of the stores will finally come to an end. The last 25 percent of the brick pavers will then be installed, along with the last few catenary lighting spans, bench blocks, and curbs. July will see the completion of the new playground, the western gateway arch, and the roof of the Bernie Milton pavilion, as well as the replacement of the Martin Luther King, Jr. sculpture and the Sagan Planet Walk.

Gary Ferguson, Executive Director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance (DIA), is encouraged by the Project Team’s recent progress and plans for finishing up next month. “We see change daily. People are visiting downtown just to look at the progress being made. We at the DIA are full-throttle in our planning for the Commons Celebration Weekend, which commemorates not only the completion of this project but also the fortieth anniversary of the pedestrian mall.”