"Walks & Talks" lecture and tour features the Memorial Parkway

Many Central New Yorkers drive through the Memorial Parkway in Utica on a daily basis.

But, how often do you get the chance to get out of your car to appreciate the landscape and monuments?

It's called the summer "Walks and Talks" lectures.

And Monday night residents parked their cars to get an up close and personal view of one of Utica's well-known streets.

We know thousands of runners each year run through the Memorial Parkway for the annual Boilermaker Roadrace.

And you may even pass through it every day, only knowing that there are various monuments that decorate the street.

"I drive by and it's a blur," explains New Hartford resident Sheila Himmelman.

Himmelman says she's enjoying the outdoors with her dog fluffy and learning a thing or two.

"It's good to be able to take it slowly and admire each statue and find out what it is and why it is," says Himmelman.

This is all a part of the Landmarks Society of Greater Utica's Summer "Walks & Talks" lecture series.

On Monday night, residents got a quick history lesson on the various historical monuments and were able to appreciate the landscape designs.

"No matter how big or how small you are trying to figure out what you are trying to accomplish with your design and who you are trying to interest," says Kate Cardamone, the Central New York Conservancy's Landscape Design Consultant.

Cardamone says she wanted to make the monuments pop with color.

"Most of these monuments you don't get up close to them you drive by them and we want them to be beautiful as you drive by," says Cardamone.

And the trees you see providing shade for walkers and drivers along the Parkway, it's planted with a purpose.

"Along the edges of the Memorial Parkway we like to have trees that are canopy trees, big shade trees that really accent with the intention of driving through a boulevard," says Cardamone.    

There are fourteen monuments along the parkway. And the first monument given to the city was the swan fountain sitting pretty on the corner of Elm and Pleasant Streets.