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Erie Canal bicentennial events slated across upstate NY

The Erie Canal in Brockport
www.albanysymphony.com
The Erie Canal in Brockport

ROME, N.Y. (AP) Events celebrating the 200th anniversary of the start of the construction of the Erie Canal are kicking off this weekend.

A seven-day bicentennial event with the Albany Symphony begins Sunday night in the city's waterfront Corning Preserve. Over the next six days there will be "Water Music NY" concert performances along the canal corridor in Schenectady, Amsterdam, Little Falls, Baldwinsville, Brockport and Lockport. The Brockport stop is expected to be sometime on Friday, July 7.

To mark the anniversary of the ceremonial first digging of the canal in Rome on July 4, 1817, the Rome Historical Society is opening its Erie Canal bicentennial exhibit on Tuesday. The organization is also hosting a series of bicentennial talks this month by canal history experts Craig Williams, Duncan Hay and Pamela Vittorio.

Rome will also host a July 22 re-enactment of the canal's 1817 groundbreaking.

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