Things to Do in Rochester This Season
By Mike Costanza
Music Festivals
Fairport Music Festival — Aug. 22-23
If you love music, good food and beverages and watching your kids enjoy themselves in a family-friendly environment, head to the Fairport Music Festival. This year, you can enjoy regional and local bands and musicians on six stages, taste the delights of food, beer and wine vendors, watch your kids climb a rock wall and admire the jugglers who stroll through the crowd without dropping a thing. Children 12 and younger get in for free. Since it began many years ago, the annual festival has raised more than $2.9 million for the Golisano Children’s Hospital.
https://fairportmusicfestival.com
Party in the Park — Thursday evenings, July 10-Aug. 14
For nearly three decades, folks have headed to Rochester’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park for Party in the Park, a series of free concerts. This year’s lineup, which ranges from national touring acts to local musicians, will perform in musical styles that include rock, reggae and blues. Vendors will be on hand to provide food, craft beer and wine.
www.cityofrochester.gov (Type “party in the park” in the search box)
ESL Rochester Fringe Festival — Sept. 9-20
Adults and children can enjoy a huge number of free and ticketed performances at the ESL Rochester Fringe Festival. Though One Fringe Place (at the corner of Main and Gibbs streets in downtown Rochester) is the center of the multidisciplinary celebration of the arts, other venues across the city will also offer entertainment. Most will be within walking distance and handicapped accessible. Vendors will be on hand to offer food, drink and festival merchandise. Past audiences have enjoyed performances by standup comedian and actor Patton Oswalt and the vertical dance troupe BANDALOOP.
Concerts
Wegman’s Concerts by the Shore — Ontario Beach Park, Wednesdays 7 p.m.
but for performance of Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, which is 7:30 p.m., June 4-Aug. 27.
Jazz at the Beach, Tropix Night Club — Charlotte, Tuesdays, 7 p.m., through Oct. 14
www.ontariobeachentertainment.org/jazz-at-the-beach/
Arts Festivals
Corn Hill Arts Festival — July 12-13
Hundreds of artists from around the country, talented musicians and food vendors will fill nine streets in Rochester’s Corn Hill Neighborhood for this family-friendly event. While parents peruse the wide variety of paintings, photos and other works of art on display, their kids can enjoy attractions that were created just for them. There will even be bouncy and fairy houses. The ESL Federal Credit Union is the festival’s presenting sponsor.
Brockport Arts Festival, — Aug. 9-10
More than 200 artists and crafters will display their works in a village just a short distance west of Rochester when the Brockport Arts Festival returns for the 29th year. In addition to viewing objects of art and craft goods, visitors will be able to enjoy festival foods, music and other entertainment. The village of Brockport and the Brockport Integrated Service Club Organization will host the event.
brockportny.org/brockport-arts-festival
M&T Bank Clothesline Arts Festival — Sept. 6–7
More than 300 juried artists will present their works for sale on the grounds of Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery during this annual celebration of the arts. The festival will also offer live entertainment, food vendors and trucks and free art activities for the kids and festival passes include museum admission. The Clothesline is the Memorial Art Gallery’s largest annual fundraiser.
Head Onto the Water
The Rochester area is full of opportunities for those who love the water. Ontario Beach Park officially open for swimming on June 27 and the Finger Lakes are just a relatively short drive away.
For those who want to swing a paddle, a number of outlets rent the right kinds of equipment. The BayCreek Paddling Center sits on Irondequoit Creek in Webster, ready to put you into the water in a kayak or canoe or on a paddleboard. Over in Fairport, the Erie Canal Boat Company also offers such watercraft for rent, along with adaptive equipment that enables people with disabilities to enjoy being on the Erie Canal. Those who really want to relax on the water can board one of Corn Hill Navigation’s boats for a tour of either the Genesee River or the Erie Canal. Some of the cruises feature live music.
BayCreek Paddling Center: www.baycreek.com
Erie Canal Boat Company: eriecanalboatcompany.com
Corn Hill Navigation: cornhillnav.org
Head down the Trails
Parks
Don your hiking boots and head to one of Monroe County’s 21 parks for the day. The parks offer miles of well-marked hiking trails and are full of wildlife. While the 82-acre Tryon Park is so close enough to Rochester that you can hear highway traffic, a walk through the 2,500-acre Mendon Ponds Park can take you far from the stresses of urban living. Some county parks also have golf and disk golf courses.
Head Down the Years
Genesee Country Village & Museum
Just 25 minutes from Rochester in Mumford, the Genesee Country Village & Museum offers visitors an in-depth look at a 19th-century village as it would have existed in the Genesee Valley region. Its 600 acres encompass 68 historic buildings, including workshops where goods from that period are made, along with a farm complete with livestock, a nature center and an art gallery. Costumed historical educators are on hand to teach about life during that period. The Genesee Country Village & Museum is the largest and most comprehensive living history museum in New York state.
Ganondagan State Historic Site
Closer to Rochester but more distant historically, the Ganondagan State Historic Site offers visitors an inside view of Seneca life as it existed hundreds of years ago. Located on a nearly 600-acre site in Victor that was once the home of a 17th-century Seneca town, Ganondagan offers visitors the chance to visit the full-sized, fully furnished Seneca Bark Longhouse and the 17,300-square-foot Seneca Art & Culture Center. After learning about Seneca and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) contributions to the arts, culture and society, visitors can walk the site’s hiking trails. The Seneca nation is a member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.