Newark’s Essex County Branch Brook Park, conceived by the world-famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, is one of our city’s crown jewels.

The Branch Brook Park Alliance — a public-private partnership dedicated to preserving and beautifying the park — will hold its annual Price Olmsted Lecture and Jazz Luncheon, a fundraiser for its continuing efforts, on June 10.

The event — named in honor of both Olmstead and beloved Rutgers University professor, historian and civic advocate Clement Alexander Price — includes an organ recital in the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart and a luncheon at the park’s Barbara Bell Coleman Welcome Pavilion.

For me, the really exciting part of the day will be the presentation of the Price Olmsted Lecture by one of my heroes: Lonnie G. Bunch III, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and proud son of Newark.

When I arrived here 15 years ago, Clem Price immediately adopted me — as he did so many people. I met Lonnie thanks to Clem, and I will never forget that when we screened Lincoln (a film I had worked on in my previous job at Participant Media) at the Arts Center for students, both Lonnie and Clem spoke afterward, treating those young people to a history lesson like no other.

I’m thrilled that this event will bring Lonnie back to Newark for a visit. As the man responsible for keeping all of the Smithsonian’s properties — the National Zoo, 21 museums, plus education and research centers around the globe — up and running, Lonnie’s time is precious, and the chance to see him back in his hometown is a real treat.

Despite Lonnie’s busy schedule, he’ll be here — because it’s for Newark, and because it honors Clem.

“Clem was one of the best historians ever,” Lonnie told me recently. “My wife and Mary Sue Sweeney Price [Clem’s wife] worked together at the Newark Museum of Art, so we met at the Black Film Festival there, and he quickly became one of the people I trusted most.”

“When we were working together on the African American History museum, he was the person I relied on most, too. We’d have 15 or 20 scholars together in a room, all with different points of view, there’d be all kinds of arguments — and Clem would just say ‘You might want to think about it this way’ and somehow, suddenly, all the fires were out.”

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason people loved Clem. He also had a mischievous side.

“I recall one time we were at Detroit’s Motown Museum together, and we started dancing, touching objects on display, doing all the things you’re not supposed to do at a museum. And then one of the administrators walked in and Clem pointed at me and said: ‘It’s all his fault!’ That was Clem!” Lonnie said.

“We were blessed to have Clem in our lives. I think of him every day. I know I was made better by the time I spent with him.”

Lonnie will give a lecture at the Alliance’s celebration called Stewardship and The Power of Place. His remarks will be deeply informed by his own experiences growing up first in Newark, and later in Belleville.

“My father, when he was going to graduate school, had two escapes: One was tending bar at a place up by the Belleville city line. And the other was Branch Brook Park,” Lonnie recalled.

“Cities must have places where you can have a moment in nature, a moment of wonder. Branch Brook was that for my family.”

“And now, I get to tell Washingtonians that their cherry blossom display is the second best in the nation. The only thing D.C. has that Branch Brook doesn’t is the Jefferson Memorial!” he added.

Being the historian he is, Lonnie also noted that Branch Brook Park was one of the key places where Newark’s many diverse communities could come together.

“Back then, there were few places where you would see all those people interact — but at Branch Brook, you could. In the park, I got to see how Italian families joined together and celebrated, along with the African American families and Portuguese families.”

And it is possible that Lonnie will have something to say about current efforts to soften the rougher edges of America’s history. Ten years after he shepherded the African American History Museum into existence (during which time it’s held steady as the second-most popular Smithsonian property after the Air and Space Museum), he is steadfast in his belief that acknowledging the problems of our past is the best way to improve our future.

“My father was a World War II veteran,” he said. “I grew up hearing his stories of how amazingly courageous and brave America was. That’s how I know America is brave enough to confront its own history.”

“I’m a historian. What history tells me is that when things are bad, you speak up — and that the only time a lack of courage works is never. This is a time for us to speak up.”

I know Lonnie will be even more inspiring to hear in person.

I’m proud that my wife, Virginia McEnerney, is engaged as a volunteer leader with the Alliance, working to spread the gospel of the importance of parks in our lives. And I’m so pleased that Dr. Sherri-Ann Butterfield, NJPAC’s Senior Vice President, Social Impact, currently serves as the Alliance’s Board Co-Chair.

And I’m honored that the Alliance has chosen to recognize my work at NJPAC at the upcoming luncheon. This is a deeply gratifying recognition of the role the Arts Center has come to play in our city’s cultural ecosystem.

If you, too, love this gorgeous, peaceful park right in the heart of our bustling city — if you’ve been delighted by its annual display of cherry blossoms or picnicked on its grassy lawns — I urge you to support the Alliance by purchasing a ticket to attend this celebration.

I hope I’ll see you there on June 10 to enjoy Lonnie’s remarks — and the beauty of one of Newark’s greatest treasures.