In addition to spurring economic development and immigration, the Erie Canal played a big role in influencing popular culture in New York and the United States. Erie Canal Museum Curator Ashley Maready will discuss the Erie Canal’s role in and influence on popular culture, including and not limited to literature, music, and film. Maready’s talk will feature information about the vast array of historic and contemporary music inspired by the waterway, novels and stories about the Canal, well-known and less-well-known movies, and other forms of cultural expression.