Special Sections » Annual Manual

Your Rochester to-do list

Try to see what's on TV on the ceiling of the Bug Jar.

Board the Mary Jemison or the Sam Patch from Corn Hill Landing.

Request the private viewing room at the Cinema Theater.

Enjoy the view from the new ExchangeStreetBridge.

Listen to Fred Costello rock the organ at Frontier Field. Get a white hot while you're there.

Step back into music history at the ClarissaRoom.

Read the quirky stuff at www.rocwiki.org, therefrigerator.net, or www.toxicrochester.com.

Get frozen custard and stroll Charlotte.

Hear the next new things perform at the open mics at Java's and Daily Perks.

Look up in Little Theatre 5 and see stars.

Try to find the White Lady at DurandEastmanPark.

Watch the stories come to life with Rochester Children's Theatre productions.

Read the writing on the wall in the can at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. (Then get takeout. It's quicker.)

Hear a director introduce his film at the Dryden Theatre.

Frolic in the meadows at Corbett's Glen.

Get caught up in a pyrotechnic Mormon story at the Hill Cumorah summer pageant.

Ride your bike along Route 65.

Watch 19th-century baseball at the GeneseeCountryVillage and Museum.

Swing in the hammock (weather permitting) at Lux Lounge.

Find your aural bliss on the low end of the dial: Rejuvenation on WRUR 88.5 FM, jazz on WGMC 90.1 FM, and the slowFlow Show on WITR 89.7 FM.

See a memorial from the Revolutionary War in Groveland.

Find the home of the spiritualist church in Lily Dale.

Paddle Irondequoit Creek.

Pay a buck to get into the Lamberton Conservatory; seek out the SunkenGarden in Highland Park.

Sinful taste-test: cigars at the Rochester Cigar Factory, beer at Custom Brewcrafters in HoneoyeFalls, wine all throughout the Finger Lakes.

Find a good hat to borrow at Betty Meyer's Bullwinkle Café.

Stock up on old paper at the Antiquarian Book Fair.

Disappear into a tree tunnel along the Greenway.

Hear something new at A\V.

Find your white elephants at the Blessed Sacrament Rummage Sale.

Sign your kids up with the master: Garth Fagan Imaginations Dance Classes.

Get transported to the Renaissance with MusicaSpei's choral music.

Find the DVD you didn't know you wanted, Global DVD.

Learn all you wanted to learn about raptors at BraddockBay.

Look for famous names in Mt.HopeCemetery.

Roam the Central Library: tunnel, hidden doll room, and all.

Watch local cable access, Channel 15 RCTV.

Read Smugtown, U.S.A. to understand Rochester's old money.

Hike up Washington Grove to see the decorated water towers.

Watch other people's embarrassing moments at Home Movie Day.

Visit your youth at the National Toy Hall of Fame, StrongMuseum.

Shop the collection of artists' books at Visual Studies Workshop.

Listen: International Jazz Festival, MusicFest. They come to us.

Eat a garbage plate; take a day of rest.

Go to an independent bookstore. Brownbag, Gutenberg, Greenwood, LiftBridge, Yankee Peddlar, Write Book.

Watch the trains come in from behind Village Gate Square or on the East Main Streetbridge.

Walk the flour mill ruins at HighFalls.

Go to a free concert in the Eastman Theatre.

Watch: HighFalls Film Festival, ImageOut Film and Video Festival.

Walk around Village Gate Square and marvel at its othermallness.

Pay $2 admission on Thursday evenings to the MemorialArtGallery.

See the best drag queens around --- DarienneLake, Aggy Dune, Pandora Boxx, Ambrosia Salad --- at Club Muther's.

Check out the model trains at EdgertonCommunity Center.

Visit Lollypop Farm and try not to bring a pet home.

Walk ARTWalk.

Squeeze a Live From Hochstein broadcast into your lunch hour.

Get stuck going in circles on the Inner Loop.

Get a look at the old subway before they fill it in.

Seek a thrill on the old, wooden Jack Rabbit rollercoaster.

Visit the Liberty Pole when it's all lit up for the holidays. Wonder why you did.

Go to the former ferry terminal and look longingly across the lake.

Find out if you're a writer (Writers & Books); a photographer or potter (GeneseeCenter for the Arts); an artist (MemorialArtGallery's Creative Workshop); or a glassmaker (More Fire Glass Studio).

Visit the Public Market early on a Saturday morning. Eat a breakfast of the gods.

Learn something: go to George Eastman House and Susan B. Anthony House. Wish we had a Frederick Douglass house.

Discover the best party decorations at a Public Star Party with the Rochester Astronomers Club.

Hand-feed those poor, bloated chickadees in MendonPondsPark.

Head to the 'burbs and pick your own produce.

Devote a Saturday to science at RochesterMuseum and ScienceCenter.

Join a participatory dance group for a night of Irish, Argentinean, contra, swing, or folk dancing.

In This Guide...

  • Take a closer look

    You could easily spend your life in Greater Rochester driving between work, home, and Wegmans. Many people do.

  • Sculptures, butterflies, and giants,oh my!

    Daytrips
    Anyone who complains about the traffic in Rochester has never driven in Boston or New York or Cleveland or Pittsburgh. Granted, more traffic means more population and more opportunities for diversion within those metropolises.

  • Not above name dropping

    Legends
    Rochester can boast a fair number of interesting citizens who continue to walk among us, but many that have shuffled off this mortal coil remain the subject of endless fascination. These former Rochesterians may not be as well known as groundbreaking giants like abolitionist Frederick Douglass, activist Susan B. Anthony, and inventor George Eastman, but their place in history is nonetheless guaranteed.

  • The way the political land lays

    Politics
    Just like anyplace else, politics in Rochester are a complicated affair that, when you get right down to it, aren't really all that complicated after all. Take a bunch of ambitious, outgoing men and women, add the lust for power, sprinkle generously with cash, and voila... you've got a crazy, quirky kind of world only an American-style democracy could produce.

  • Are you there yet?

    Families
    Got kids? You've come to the right place!

  • The best parts are often hidden

    City neighborhoods
    "Cool" in Rochester is the youth-oriented Park Avenuearea, or the East End-Alexander area on a summer night, with crowds from clubs and bars spilling out onto the sidewalks. But there's lots to experience in the city.

  • Where's the party?

    Festivals
    Lakeside Winter Celebration Date: February

  • Park it

    Parks
    From the beautiful Seneca and Highland Parks, both designed by 19th-century landscape genius Frederick Law Olmsted, to Durand-Eastman Park, where you can feel the immensity of that Great Lake, here is just a partial list of some of our favorite parks in the Monroe County (256-4950, www.monroecounty.gov) and City of Rochester (428-6767 or 428-6755, www.cityofrochester.gov) systems. Cobbs Hill Park Culver Road and Norris Drive

  • From getting lost to finding your Irish

    Recreation
    Wanna work off a few pounds? Gotta burn off some work-related frustration?

  • Live and active culture

    Arts
    They say you shouldn't talk religion or politics at the dinner table. Sound advice.

  • Welcome to the 'burbs

    Suburbs
    Rochester owes much of its development and prosperity to the GeneseeRiver, which cuts a path right down the center of the city. In the early days, many of the neighborhoods in the city, as well as suburban villages, began as small settlements that depended on the river to receive and sell goods.

  • A town in the know

    Universities
    One of Rochester's most important assets is its academic community. There are over a dozen centers devoted to advanced education within the Rochester-Finger Lakes-Genesee Valley Region, and they add vibrancy to the area's employment, culture, and quality of life.

  • Sporting goods

    Sports
    Last year, Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal named Rochester the number one minor-league sports market in the country. The city boasts pro sports franchises that are both storied and cutting-edge, some steeped in tradition, others still growing out of their infancy.

  • Eight days a week

    Nightlife
    You've only got seven, but there's something to do eight days a week. Monday.

  • As American as pasta e fagiole

    Food
    You can eat apple pie and hamburgers for only so long. If you're seeking ingredients to build meals in honor of your (or someone else's) culture, here's a list of some independent ethnic grocery stores.