While we perform our civic duty and forgo large gatherings this summer, we'll miss all those salads at the cook-out. There are some salads you look forward to every year. Then there are some you had never seen before in your life. But they always seem to fill the plate. This week's events roster is like an unexpected twist on a classic summer salad — a new recipe we're all trying for the first time.
Rochester summers typically get an early kick-off at Fairport Canal Days, where the rubber duck race right on the canal is the main event. This year, as it's impossible for those ducks to physically distance, the public has been invited to race instead, on land. The 2020 Fairport Duck Race Virtual 5K Run & Scavenger Hunt seeks runners, walkers, and sleuths to tour a course of public art through the village anytime through July 31. Runners must complete the race before July 31 and log their time. Registration is $20, which will benefit the Fairport Public Art Committee.
This year, Ganondagan State Historic Site's annual Indigenous Music & Arts Festival has altered its format to the current Virtual Ganondagan Summer Experience. Throughout the weekend, events will be streamed from the site grounds. These include stories about water beings told from the brook, lacrosse stick-making demonstrated in the woods, and corn husk doll-making and storytelling from Three Sisters Garden. The celebration begins on Friday at 11 a.m., when Bill Crouse (Seneca) will perform, in traditional regalia, Iroquois Social Dancing with the Allegany River Dancers. Crouse will return for later viewing to demonstrate how to make water drums and traditional Haudenosaunee headdresses.
Further out, in Geneva — yet with no travel necessary — the Geneva Light Opera presents a Retrospective of recent Smith Opera House performances on Sunday, July 26, at 3 p.m. The company's various directors will discuss and present selections from "Die Fledermaus," "Don Giovanni," "The Barber of Seville," and "The Marriage of Figaro." This program will also feature performers singing arias from their respective lockdown locales. "La Cenerentola," originally scheduled for this weekend, has been postponed to a July 2021 performance.
Continue the support of local opera at Virtual Bravo Night on Tuesday, July 28, at 7 p.m. Bravo Nights are a staple at The Little Café, featuring intimate performances from esteemed and upcoming singers. This week, soprano Brittany Rumph and mezzo-soprano Joelle Lachance will each sing solo works by Donizetti, Mozart, Gershwin, and more. A visit to the Opera Guild of Rochester will open a world of appreciation and connection.
Perhaps soap opera is more your taste. The drama unfolds on Friday, July 24, at 7 p.m. in Unleashed! Cabin Fever Improv's comedic send-up, "As the World Blows ... So do the Sands of Life." The Blackfriars Comedy Series continues to treat the current moment with doses of laughs, presenting a unique night of improvised comedy - with audience suggestions — every other Friday. Return on August 7 for "Zoombaya," a summer camp Zoom reunion. Performances are free, but donations to Blackfriars are a welcome gesture.
Local artists have also harnessed the moment to create works in "Pandemic: The Real Art Show" at the Fair Haven Arts Center. The exhibit is on view this Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., featuring works in different media, including writing, all exploring themes of the pandemic. As this is an indoor event, safety precautions including masks and physical distancing will be observed.
And finally, reflections continue as the country says farewell to longtime civil rights activist and Georgia Congressperson, John Lewis. "John Lewis: Good Trouble" is a 2020 documentary on the life and works of a man dedicated to the long fight for justice, now screening at the Virtual Little Theatre ($12).
Keep up to date with full listings of local online events on the CITY Events Calendar. Do you have an event you wish to include? You can submit online, or email event information to [email protected].
