🌼🌼🌼
Daffodil Dash
5K & 1-Mile Fun Run/Walk
📅 Saturday, April 25, 2026 · 9:00 AM EDT
📍 Ithaca Children's Garden, Cass Park — Ithaca, NY
Spring is almost here — and so are 180,000 daffodils blooming along the Cayuga Inlet. The Daffodil Dash is back for its fourth year, and it's a beautiful one.
Run, walk, or stroll past a sea of yellow in Cass Park — and know that every dollar you spend comes right back as bulbs planted in the ground.
1-Mile Fun Run/Walk
9:00 AM
Wind through the blooms & finish at Gaia, the Children's Garden turtle 🐢
5K Run/Walk
9:30 AM
The full daffodil experience along the inlet in Cass Park 🌼
Registration
$28.74 for adults (13+) · FREE for kids 12 & under
Optional Dash t-shirt available · Packet pickup starts at 8:00 AM
📋 Race Day Info
⭐ New This Year
Registration and bibs will be picked up from tents at the Northern end of Union Field at Cass Park.
🅿️ Parking: Use the lot north of the Children's Garden, or the Cass Park skating rink lot. Do not park along any roadways.
🟡 1-Mile: Starts at the blue arch north of pavilion, ends at Gaia (the Children's Garden turtle). Follow yellow markers.
🔵 5K: Starts & finishes at the blue arch — out & back. Follow blue Daffodil Dash lawn signs.
🏁 Event closes at 11:00 AM — thank you for supporting the Ithaca Garden Club!
🗺️ Start & Registration Location
New this year — bibs at the Northern end of Union Field, Cass Park
🔵 5K Course
🟡 1-Mile Course
📸 Share your race photos!
#daffodildashithaca
Where does the money go?
Every dollar raised turns into daffodil bulbs, planted by volunteers across Ithaca. Last year's Dash funded 70,000 bulbs now blooming along the entrance to Cayuga Medical Center. This year's proceeds head to Stewart Park in October. 🌱
April 25, 2026
Cass Park Ithaca, NY
Online Registration is required and limited to the first 500 applicants
or April 10th, whichever comes first.
March 14, 2o26
500 Dashers!
We've hit our max!
Thank you for participating
in this event -
See you April 25th!!!
Although registration is closed, volunteers and donations are
welcome! For more info, please go to
https://www.ithacagardenclub.org/daffodil-dash
REGISTRATION BEGAN JANUARY 12, 2026
The Daffodil Dash returns this spring for its
FOURTH year!!!
Once again, the Ithaca Garden Club and the
Ithaca Children’s Garden are sponsoring this
event, with help from numerous
volunteers and donors.
Dashers will have the opportunity to admire over 180,000 brilliant
daffodils, a project of the Ithaca Garden Club, as they run,
walk, or stroll along the Cayuga Inlet.
These flowers were purchased with
funding from donors and dash participants, and planted
with the help of volunteers from the Ithaca Parks Department,
the Ithaca Garden Club, and the Ithaca Beautification Brigade,
along with Cornell University's incredible planting equipment.
Due to donors’ generosity, EVERY DOLLAR from this event will
transform into
daffodil bulbs, to be planted at Stewart Park in October.
Proceeds from the 2025 Dash were converted into 70,000 daffodil bulbs,
planted along the entrance to Cayuga Medical Center Hospital.
Try to swing by in April when they’ll be blooming!
1 Mile Dash begins at 9:00
5 K Dash begins at 9:30
Children 12 & under receive FREE registration and may purchase a Dash
t-shirt for $5!
$25 registration for all others, with optional $10 Dash t-shirts available.
1 Mile Fun Run/Walk
Finish at Gaia, the Ithaca Children's Garden turtle, after winding through the scenic daffodil blooms planted along the course.
5k Run/Walk
Experience the sights and smells of 180,000 blooming daffodils while running, walking, rolling or strolling along the inlet in Cass Park.