From WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made with a call to action.

In her editor's letter in this month's issue of City Magazine, editor Leah Stacy called on readers to show don't tell.

She commented on how it's okay to speak up about the things that we want to change about our city, but it's also important to show up for those things that we say we want.

If we want a revitalized city, we should spend more time getting involved in the things going on in the city, she says.

And what better time to do that than festival season?

Rochester is often called a festival city, with a large number of events throughout the region scheduled from spring through October.

Whether it's a festival of lilacs or cocktails, fish culture, there's something for you.

We got a preview with the team from city talking about the recent additions.

And for the YouTube viewers, we should make sure that you see this.

It is.

Here we go.

Nice and high.

It's beautiful.

And that's thanks to the art director for city magazine, Jake Walsh, who is right here.

Hello, Jake.

Hi, Evan.

Thanks for having me.

Next to Jake is Roberto Alcaraz, a multimedia reporter for city.

I'm just kidding.

Bob.

Berta.

Bob.

Anything but Bob.

Anything with Bob.

Hey, Bob is the name of the new pope.

Pope?

Bob, this is true, but you're just Berta.

This is really big for Roberts.

Across big.

This is huge.

This is huge.

Welcome back.

Berto.

Great having you here.

And, of course, the editor of city magazine.

This is Stacy.

Hello.

Hi.

I feel like I was just here, like I when you were there.

Now I'm back.

You were just here.

I really I want to say that.

I think you are on the money with the editor's note, and I think, it is easy to be negative about where you live.

It's easy to be cynical.

It's easy to say there's nothing to do.

Or that if there were more to do, you'd want to do it or get involved.

But how disconnected are we because of the choices we make about what we don't attend, but what we don't support?

I think that's a good question.

So I just want to say right on with that.

Thank you.

And I do want to clarify something because I got a couple of emails about that letter.

I referenced a, an article that that ran in another publication, and I think some people thought I was being critical of the writer of the article, which was not the case.

it was clearly placed content.

So, you know, kind of like an ad that looks like an article which, you know, word media, it's a it's a business model.

but I really I it was more that it was being posted in a Facebook group where I see a lot of people just sort of talking about things and keeping an eye on things.

And I go out and do things and I want and I wish that the people who talked about a lot of things were out actually doing them right.

And we talk about that a lot in our office.

when we're putting issues together, when we're deciding what is, you know, coverage worthy content, when we're talking about our weekends in the office and what we do, I think our team has like, varied interests.

We we don't see each other a lot on the weekends, which I think is great for the team.

I think that our different interests are different.

Ages are different, you know, sort of demographics within the tiny city team.

it's really helps us vary the content.

So but I think overall, like we just need to be more conscious of supporting the city, like matching our dollars, our attendance to, what we say we want to have here and keep here.

Because if people don't go, it's not going to stay.

And I think festivals are a great example of that because a lot of them are free.

But then you may pay for things there.

and just going like festivals rely on people to go to them.

So and there's a lot.

This guide was chunky and we still missed a few, which if we missed your email us we'll add it.

It's online.

it went live online this morning and we're kind of in the middle of our biggest festival, which is Lilac Fest, of course.

And I love that everyone who lives here says I like differently.

lilac, lilac.

I do get that question a lot.

And I feel like I kind of internally am switching it up every single time.

Yeah, I'm not good on this.

You can't commit.

Yeah.

If I'm not committing, I'm not just playing to all old people here, you know?

Yeah.

I'm say I'm not good on the spot speaking into a microphone like, who knows what I'm going to say.

But the funny thing about, like, the Rochester accent, the Rochester accent like Rochester, you would think it'd be lilac, but it's lilac here.

Well, I like I am, and I think some people would argue that that I say lilac, I don't know, I change it.

I made a pun in one of our social media captions, when I put up the little promo video, and I did like a lock emoji on the end of it, and I was like, I don't get this.

Only if they say it that way.

oh.

I get it now.

Yeah, exactly.

So together we'll talk about the Lilac Lock Festival or Festival?

Flower Festival.

We'll talk about that coming up here.

and as much as we talk about, you know, supporting the city or loving the city that you live in, we're obviously Rochester is the beating heart of it.

But this whole region, there's this whole region has a lot going on through October.

including in Caledonia.

Yes.

Caledonia.

What's going on there, Berta?

Well, they got the, the good old trout festival, which I have to shout out my, in-laws who are from Cal mom.

And they they're the ones who put it on my radar, casual conversation, you know, Trout Fest comes up, and, I was like, well, ironically, we're doing a festival issue.

I think we should, explore that.

Originally, it was just to be in the guide, but then we got to talking and we're like, man, we got to get some trout in here.

You got to get some trout.

I got to point out, I laughed when you mentioned the trout Festival.

I'm not laughing at the festival.

I'm laughing because you called it the Good Old Trout Festival, which I think is not the official name of it.

Right?

No, no, no, but it's like but I it is just the Caledonia Trout fest.

so.

And it was great.

Nick Simms, was my point of contact at first.

and, you know, we kind of just got talking, you know, what is it?

I've learned a lot.

A lot of history.

This was a historically heavy, photo essay.

I know, you know, it varies.

Sometimes it's four pages, sometimes it's six.

But, depending on the topic, sometimes it there's a lot of, like, research and just a lot of dense information that gets thrown my way that I got to distill down.

And we this is the, oldest fish hatchery on the Western Hemisphere.

It's in Caledonia.

I mean, they do a quarter million hatchlings a year.

Yes.

Yeah.

And then in constant rotation.

So it's it's it's incredible.

and they just make it look so easy.

But what I was when I first turned to your essay, I'm like, is this a festival or is it like they're calling it a festival, but they're just hatching fish.

Like what?

Like what's.

So the the main thing is more just it's just a celebration of its history.

you know, you're going to see live music, food, beer, all the good stuff.

but then they also have the fish culture activities.

So like a fisherman's market, there's, the big one is that I mentioned in the photo essay is the, kids trout pool.

Essentially, yeah.

Pool.

which this year, I believe it's going to be two aboveground pools with an aerator inside to keep the oxygen going and flowing.

you know, one of the dead fish.

but, yeah.

And the kids go up, and this is like an opportunity for kids to some of them to catch their first fish ever.

and they make that promise that, you know, no kid gets turned away until they, they catch their first fish.

and then there's, you know, prizes and whatnot.

And one of the stories I thought that was really cool was that, they mentioned how in some scenarios, you know, they'll talk to to parents and they're so excited because they, you know, they're they're child just caught their first fish.

They may have just won their first rod and reel.

and they're stoked.

They can't they can't wait to go.

And you know, they live by the creek.

but, you know, maybe they didn't have that with them at the time or didn't know how.

You know, it just kind of like brings more people into, you know, that hobby.

And it's really interesting.

And then, of course, like, like they said, live music, food, the festival stuff, you know, people to when is it?

May 31st.

May 31st.

And I'll be there.

I will be there.

So you well you committed I very you're gonna keep showing up.

I'm showing up.

I'm going to be showing up.

Yeah, it sounds awesome, I can't wait.

I mean, my first one, it does sound awesome.

And I think staying with this, one of the themes of the hour here, the more disconnected we get and that is fewer people are attending.

And this is not like an endorsement of anything.

It's just an observation where people are going to church.

Fewer people are involved in neighborhood organizations and groups.

we just we're gathering less, even though we could do more.

So I do think it sounds awesome.

What?

Jake, gather around the trout.

Gather around the trout.

Yeah.

Sounds like a very good time.

When you said the fish.

Fish culture.

By the way, I'm a fan of the band fish and my, like, radar went off and I was like, are we going to talk about my favorite jam band on connections?

We found a way to bring it today.

Oh boy, is there a fish festival with a pH.

No.

Okay, not for me.

Not in the cards for me.

Isn't there an Easter egg somewhere?

And your.

There is, but we don't have to that we can get to that later.

yeah.

I don't talk about that.

There's a lot of a lot of fish in this issue.

We're talking to the team from city.

The festival guide is out.

do we know exactly how many festivals are in our region this year?

nope.

Nope.

There was no formal number.

I don't think we counted.

I remember, but as I said, we've already gotten a couple emails like I need to add at least two to the online guide.

So, Evan, I remember last year, which we should not do again, but last year we committed to reading them off, and just as a list.

And I think that killed maybe seven really?

Yeah.

We did so funny.

But but if you it was really fun.

It was so fun.

It was fun.

But but if you check that out.

If you all want to talk, I can count.

And I'll report back with a number.

No, we'll skip the whole thing.

You got to pick up the magazine.

You do.

You have to pick up.

That's exactly right.

Why would we, tell us why we kill?

The reason to pick up the magazine, just pick up the magazine.

And, I also want to mention that Patrick Haskin had a really interesting piece, and I think.

Berto, did you shoot the 10th piece?

Yes.

the majority of the photos.

And I think there's a couple that, that were provided they it if it was there, I mean, like at first I'm like, wait a 10th piece, but like, this is this guy's a big deal.

Sean McCarthy's tense.

what did you learn there, Berto?

there's a lot.

I mean, the scale is just unreal.

and that was one warehouse.

and they made a point to mention that.

Okay.

Hey, this is this isn't the whole show.

This is just some, So it was pretty incredible.

this the variety, the I the irony is that in this portrait, he's sitting next to a few chairs.

And when I saw, you know, I'm, like, getting ready to take his portrait, I'm like, oh, be nice to have, like, you know, repetitive thing in there.

Right?

And I look at it, I don't know why is that's why.

I was like, hey, do you have a can we get like a couple of chairs out here is like a couple.

He's like, we got a hole where I could look at that.

Thousands of.

Yeah.

He's like, yeah, he's a you take your pick.

What do you want?

There are 1500 miners behind that door.

It was intense.

I was like, why did I literally intense.

Wow.

Sorry.

All right.

anyway, I mean, he may have missed an opportunity there.

This guy provided the media tent during the presidential inauguration of 2017. you know, so this is, like, a big deal.

And I think somewhere in the piece, I'm trying to find it mentioned, like they spend the winter, like, drying out fabric and like, just preparing for tent season for festival season.

That's amazing.

Well, and he does Holiday Village.

So I mean, doing Rock Holiday Village, that's what almost five weeks that they've expanded to at this point.

So I don't know that they really take a rest at any point.

There just doesn't turn in and burn in.

There is an industry behind everything we take for granted as event goers.

Yeah, I'm finding it's a whole infrastructure.

Well, and we're going to be talking to Jenny Le Meglio in a second here, the executive producer of the Rochester Lilac Festival who, and Jenny said, that, they can solve any logistical problem that can be had in your festival with tents.

I mean, it's just so it's so much.

And they use McCarthy as well, right?

Yeah, I believe so.

Yeah.

Yeah they do.

So, so that's an interesting piece from Patrick.

in our second half hour, I'm also going to talk about, I think Patrick wrote the tiki piece he did.

And so I want to talk a little bit about, a tiki festival coming up here.

And you're like, what did we just talk about?

The Rochester cocktail revival.

Is that the same festival?

It's not the same.

It's not the same.

A little bit smaller bar wise, but it is one of Oscar's partner bars.

Jack's extra fancy.

and the team behind that and their upcoming tiki bar behind Tiki Week.

And we do work closely with them, so we're going to come back to that in just a second here.

But, maybe, maybe the people who can really settle this debate about what the world we're going to call this festival, Jenny Le Meglio, Dave Drago, they are both on the line with us now.

Jenny is the executive director of the 2025.

What?

Jenny, how do you say my name?

No, not your name.

The name of the festival.

Oh, sorry.

You're cut out for a second, I apologies.

There's a Rochester lilac Festival, the 127th edition.

I think she said lilac.

Lilac, the lilac.

Oh, that was declared without me.

So I've never lilac, lilac and little lilac.

Lilac.

Yeah.

It was almost like Dave Drago.

How do you describe it?

What is it?

it is a giant festival.

It existed for, what, 127 years?

And, I, I think of it as a music festival, because that's what I have to look at.

But it's so, so, so much more than that.

Say it.

Say the word.

Is it lilac or lilac?

Dave?

Oh, I'm sorry, I call it lilac.

Yeah, that's because you're wrong.

No, I mean, like, I think I think that's actually I think that's actually right.

I think that's actually right.

in Rochester for the entire interview.

Love it I love it.

So that's it.

That's all we want to do is talk about how we pronounce the name of the flower.

and Dave is the music director and talent buyer for the festival.

And by the way, the festival runs through when Dave, runs through this Sunday the 18th.

And this is one of those kind of, serendipitous timing, because in recent years we've had these really early springs and a lot of hot weather.

In April.

And sometimes the lilacs are blooming early and and this was the spring.

That wasn't until now.

And so now it's like this glorious week and we're all very excited.

And it's perfect timing for the visuals to take us through.

Some of, Dave, what excites you the most about the talent and the music that's coming?

you know, we have some incredible national headliners, plugged into our, final spot for the night, for the festival genre's all over the place.

and then, you know, I'm always especially excited about our mission to try and support our local artists and musicians who are creating original music.

and we just we just chop the stage up full of really, really incredible, local musicians and local bands.

And it's been a real blast.

and can you, can Jenny, can you weigh in to on on what is still on the calendar to come for the next few days here that, that you want people to know is coming music musically, we have, such a diverse lineup.

We have, the Dirty Dozen band, and we have the aces, and they're just they're just amazing group of women.

We also have a very popular alt band called Beach Weather.

We have so many, I want to say billions with a B followers.

So musically that's on board for us the rest of the week, including our, our very favorite Sky coasters with, you know, such longevity in Rochester and notoriety and just loving to not only bring in nationally touring artists, but to honor some of our favorite local people as well.

Dave, earlier we were talking to City Magazine editor Leah Stacy about the importance of kind of putting not your money where your mouth is, but kind of your feet, where your mouth is, and kind of getting out and actually supporting event supporting festivals.

For all the people who say, I love Rochester or but there's not enough to do or, you know, there's not enough going on, you got to show up.

If you love a place, you got to show up and support and how how with things been in the last five years, you know, post-pandemic, how are things been for the festival?

I can only speak to the last two years.

Jenny definitely can weigh in with us because she's been running the festival for or, involved in the festival for over a decade.

but I don't really, you know, in a lot of ways, some of these festivals, like, it's it's weather dependent.

We kind of live and die by our weather here.

but I've been really, really impressed with the audiences we've had so far.

I'm sure Jenny can can weigh in on that as well, but, every night we've had good weather this week.

and, even with bands that I know, like maybe someone hadn't heard of or whatever, people are still coming out and, the audiences have looked really, really amazing.

And, you know, it's it's kind of our first big event and festival in Rochester after our snow melts and we kind of get our brains back and start getting ready for, for summer.

And it's just really nice and refreshing to always see these people here just dancing and like getting vitamin D and just really, really enjoying themselves.

after a long Rochester winter.

Yeah.

Jenny, do you want to weigh in too, on what you've seen, you know, post-pandemic?

Yeah.

For sure.

When we had the pandemic, not only was physical illness, rocking our world, we had, you know, the emotional part of it, you know, sort of stuff dry.

So to see people, I like to say we're not doctors, but to see people post-pandemic sort of shoulder to shoulder.

You know, our video cat, our videos capture people hugging each other because they're meeting there for the first time or, you know, sharing, something to eat and dancing in front of the stage and laughing hysterically at something, or sitting in a huge group on the grass.

You know, those are things that were probably there, probably pre-pandemic, but post-pandemic, it's definitely more noticeable.

It's definitely people's medicine to the outside to be with their kids and their families.

even just speaking with Dave prior to this call, we've opened up a lot of new free opportunities here within the festival, which is still free to walk into.

But you know, having a space for kids to go, we have a sensory tent.

So we have families that are able to go out in public, as a family and not have to leave, necessarily.

So I feel like, you know, having that space available post-pandemic is definitely critical.

so in addition to the music, you know, we have things like the sensory tent, we have free water stations now, we have, you know, a free kids stage that is sponsored by Doctor Lots to honor.

They are youth and performing, you know, free music for kiddos.

And, it's just great.

We keep adding things on to the festival post-pandemic.

We have not only, you know, added features here within the festival, but also the the look.

It's the esthetic, the feel.

We have a lovely entryway.

We have beautified the grounds.

We've, you know, rearrange the footprint a little bit.

and that's all for like, you know, people asking us like, hey, you know, we love the event, but we, we, we are looking for more and it's great.

We have our stage headliners, ASL interpreted, and, you know, these people that are with us year after year, they become family.

Our vendors are local.

We're supporting local.

you know, so people are spending money to go to a hockey game or baseball game, which I go to those two and I don't even blink twice by paying a ticket, coming in, getting my family some dinner, getting a souvenir attraction in a way out, and, you know, a couple hundred dollars in the hole.

But you're like, hey, that's worth it.

I've just been with my family for 3 or 4 hours, and we had we made some memories.

But here you can do that too.

And when you buy lunch or you know, a drink from a vendor, you know you're supporting them, or you're going to our art and craft show and you buy something special for mom or a friend or a baby shower.

So, you know, and it's a one of a kind, these artists, that's their livelihood.

And we're just super proud.

We're we are close.

And all of the people here at the festival, not only are third party vendors, but our exhibitors and our artists and, you know, our, our, our restaurant owners and and we love them.

And they love us.

And it's the flagship event of the of the of the year for sure.

Jenny, where can people get a schedule to learn more about what's coming up here?

Everybody can go to a rock lilac, Nasscom rock Lilac fest.com.

We up there our website daily.

You can check out our social media on Facebook and Instagram.

Rochester Lilac Festival.

And Dave, before I let you go hear what music gets people moving the most, what's going to get your your biggest crowds?

biggest crowd?

now, I mean, moving and biggest crowds are two very different I guess.

So, yeah, I guess that's a good point.

But I mean, I being a producer and a musician myself, like, I don't like to just automatically defer too easily and be like, well, people dance when there's a jam band or people dance when there's this or that.

It's like, I think people get positively infected by good melodies, good hooks and good rhythms.

and I like to think that, give, give people a little more credit and say, you know what?

We can offer them positive messages and, great beats and great melodies and great hooks.

they're going to dance whether they thought they were going to or not.

Well, good luck.

Dave and Jenny, thank you for being with us.

Thanks for bringing some some not not only the the event, but I'm going to give you credit for at least helping us turn the corner and feel like summer is coming here.

We have needed this.

We have endured a rough April.

So the festival season is here.

Lilac Festival is on now.

Dave Drago, thanks for taking time for us.

27 Jenny Lee MacNeil.

Thanks for being with us.

Yeah, thank you both for being with us.

Thank you.

And Lilac Festival course, that's one of the big ones here, but we're talking about festival season all across our region.

City magazine has the new festival guide.

It is out now.

An interesting email from Alicia named Jenny, who says not everyone is meant to attend festivals.

There are a lot of introverts in the world.

Oh, I feel that I'm.

I mean, I would say half our team is introverts.

We understand.

But I think there if you look through the festival guide, there are some quieter festivals.

Is that a lot of phrase?

Well, I mean, there's film festivals.

You can just go and sit in a movie theater.

I think everybody assumes that like, well, you host talk show, you're like an extrovert.

I am a I'm nothing.

Oh, yeah, we've talked.

I'm nothing more than an Amber alert.

Yeah.

You know, and and come 2:00 every afternoon, I'm very much like, gassed like that's.

Yeah.

You know, I don't want to talk to anybody for a while.

and but I take Jenny's point.

I just think, I think human beings were meant to be isolated.

I think one of the most important lessons from the pandemic is we are not a species.

That we are harmed by isolation, by extended isolation.

That doesn't mean that everyone must become an extrovert.

or the you should go to every festival or talk to every person you see.

No, but it means that that connection and that being together.

Yeah.

Whether you're an Amber bird, extrovert, introvert matters.

Hey, introverts at the table.

You still like festivals, right?

It's actually nice because there's like, so many people.

It is introverts.

Yeah.

Festival because there's so many.

It's like being in New York City.

Like in the corner there.

Right.

It's great.

Yeah.

You have your autonomy.

Well, I don't know.

Autonomy is questionable in Rochester because it is rather small.

New York City, yes.

Yeah, yeah.

You lost in the subway.

You got to just get out of here for a couple days.

I think that's really important to hit refresh.

You come back, you appreciate things more.

I also want to go back to Jenny Le Meglio for a second.

Yeah.

So as she's speaking, I just think, like, man, that is a person we want running a festival like this.

She she gets it.

And so I just a hats off to her.

That's everything she was saying.

I was like, yes, this is great.

They're working so hard to make it suitable for everybody.

Yeah.

And that's really cool here.

By the way, extrovert or introvert?

super duper introvert.

But like any like any you're a super duper introvert.

I would say.

So I value peace, quiet and alone time.

You're energized by being alone and it takes energy to be with people.

I think so, but that's not.

Yeah, it's not keeping me under lock and key in my home.

I'm around people all of the time, and I'm a musician and a festival goer, and I've got my hobbies and my things that I do, but I would say, yeah, I'm a I'm more introverted as the years go on.

But if you asked me ten years ago, I'd be like, I'm an extrovert by all.

Like I would.

Yeah.

And then I would like to do a joke or something.

All of us, I think.

Yeah, yeah.

By the way, a friend of mine list 80.

Look at the guy holding the black guitar.

A friend of mine who's listening says, this is great, right?

We play at a festival here.

Yeah, that's Evan Dawson with the guitar on stage 20.

You just refer to yourself.

No, no point seven.

No no no, no.

The camera see me is urging Evans.

No.

You guys want to see a photo of Leah?

Stacy?

No, no, no, I got nothing that was a bad idea, and I. I want to say to again, do your thing.

I want to say to Jenny, who emailed and say, I do totally get it.

I don't want people to feel like we're just like, judging you.

If you're if you want to have a night in.

No, I'm just saying that isolation is not good for the species.

Yeah.

And I and I do think when I going back to that letter, I'm not just talking about festivals, I'm talking about there are things for 100% every personality that you can support.

Yeah.

You could even do from your home.

I mean, I, I am a get takeout girly if I need to be away from people, but I usually will pick local takeout.

That's all I'm saying.

It's like, let's support the city we live in.

Let's keep these things here.

We say we want them.

Let's make sure they stay.

Yeah, I think that's really, really well.

So.

But I get it.

The energy is not forever.

I'll say it.

I was like, I have this thing.

I was at the Lilac Festival yesterday.

It's, as anyone who's ever been to the Lilac Festival, you know, that there's areas where there's many, many, many people and then there's areas where you can find a tree and eat funnel cake and that.

That's right.

My fiance and I did.

It was suddenly very quiet.

I think it's nearby, the sensory tent.

And it's awesome that there is like, something for everybody there because I need to get I need to get away from the the vibration of the crowd every once in a while or I'll go insane.

Yes, it's the last.

It's the largest collection of lilac bushes in North America.

That's awesome.

That's really cool.

And they smell so good.

So that's going on now.

This is your festival guide.

City's got this beautiful addition out.

Now we're talking festival season and we got to take our only break.

We'll come back with the city team and march right on through this beautiful issue and this beautiful time of year talking about it on connections.

I'm having Dawson Wednesday on the next connections, we sit down with Rochester Mayor Malik Evans one on one, the third in our series of conversations with the candidates for Rochester mayor.

You've heard from Shashi Sinha, you've heard from council member Mary Lucien and now Mayor Malik Evans on why he's running for reelection.

Talk with you Wednesday on connections.

Support for your public radio station comes from our members and from Sarah's Garden Center in the Village of Brockport, dedicated to sharing knowledge about the art of growing plants for over 45 years, with onsite gardens to stroll, blooms to breathe in, and staff to provide gardening advice.

More at Sarah's Garden center.com.

Right there on page 20 and 21 is this beautiful picture in city magazine of what parcel five and what our center city looks like when it is, you know, they filled up a lot of people there.

I'm going to hold it a little higher so everybody can see.

It's just so beautiful.

and that's only one little parcel, I get it, but, I'm really glad.

In retrospect, it was.

Yeah, I think it was like the better part of a decade ago that, Glen Kellogg and a bunch of people were coming out and talking about their proposals.

What to do there?

Yeah.

I, I think the Gleaners, although I don't want to get myself in trouble.

Steve Kerr was a big, big pusher of parcel five.

Yeah.

Does this feel like the right thing for that parcel to you?

Oh, yeah.

When we have festival events.

I mean, I've been to many fringe events, many concerts.

the midday, like lunch events that downtown definitely does, the movies.

I try to get down there as much as I can.

I also like to walk.

I live in neighborhood of the arts, so I try to walk there.

And so I have to plan that because it takes like, 15, 20 minutes.

But yeah, when you are I mean, I was down there for the eclipse, I was on parcel five for the eclipse, which, you know, the weather was whatever it was, but it was it was really cool to be there with, a massive crowd there were like, fire pits and kids, and it was cool.

Well, well, the the seat next to is someone's materialized, and you can't miss him.

He's the tallest guy in the building.

Brian Sharp is here investing.

I don't know if you're the tallest.

Gotta be.

Yeah, you gotta be close.

There's been a there hasn't been, I was going to say you print reporters.

Get that microphone close to you.

Oh, yeah.

You're in Ryan Sharp area.

We haven't.

How tall are you, Marcus?

And a doorway.

If I stand up.

If I stand up.

No.

65 if you don't slouch.

Six foot five.

Same six.

Five over here.

Yeah.

Let's get.

Sure.

I'm 652.

No no no no, I'm not even close.

I was like, wait a second, I don't close.

But it was really slouch him.

Brian is investigations and enterprise editor for news and a contributor, city magazine.

And we have Ken Glazer, the CEO of Buckingham Properties, on the line with us as well.

Hello, Ken.

Hey.

Hi, guys.

Great.

Yeah, I second that.

Not being next to Brian is really talk.

I'm not tall guy.

I'm glad I'm on the on the phone.

it's great to have you back, Ken.

Nice talk to you.

And, Rochester or, downtown hopefully.

Is the name of the piece.

who who's headline was that?

That was me.

I don't blame Brian for that.

No, I like it.

I thought it was clever.

Well, so a lot of the piece is writing around the downtown.

Definitely events.

And, they've done a great job with a lot of the things that they've done.

And we were just trying to be clever because we didn't want to make it like an endorsement.

We obviously support what's going on downtown, but also there's still a lot in the works.

And so I think it was more to not only to be clever, but to express this like, hey, we all want this to work, so let's cover it, let's talk about it, let's go down and attend these events and support them.

what is downtown?

Definitely Brian Sharp.

So that's a it's a number of events that are, a lot of them people might think of around parcel five.

There's some new ones, this year they're going to be over at, the renamed Austin Stuart Plaza.

they're behind the hotel along the river.

yoga with goats and puppies, which I didn't realize was a thing.

And, but I'm not big on yoga, so, I also have a, happy hour, time there to try and get people out, know, be some of the year, if not the first, real organized events there, in that remade park area.

and then we just took took an angle here to sort of look at this effort to bring events and such into the Center city.

in the wake of if, if listeners remember the Business Improvement District and the push that was supposed to formalize some of this, and where we're going from here.

and Ken is someone who I touch base with often for a read on just how things are going with the the downtown office buildings, and just the market in general.

And he, he was active, and supporting the bid and, and I can let him talk about just, you know, where downtown is and the importance, he sees and, you know, these, these events that are happening downtown and what more needs to come?

Yeah.

Go ahead.

Ken.

okay.

But I think the events, you know, they're critical.

what?

We're really good at getting people downtown.

We just can't seem to get them to come back on a regular basis.

So Jazz Fest is always an amazing thing.

We never have any security issues.

And yet those people leave and they don't come back for another year.

So, you know, we're trying to figure out how to get people here on a regular basis.

So that they they understand the city and they can help kind of, unwind the narrative that it's not safe because downtown, especially around Castle five, actually is a really safe area.

but perception, you know, drives a lot of people or has made people hesitate to come down.

And, we need to do that.

Well, there's something you said, in Brian's piece, Ken, that I want to unpack a little bit.

You said that the city isn't designed to really be a neighborhood, and we're trying to get it to be a neighborhood, and that's going to take a long time.

Tell me more about that.

and that's really sort of more of the architect to me that, you know, physically, like Xerox or Innovation Square is a perfect example of something that was designed to be a little intimidating.

It's up out of, you know, up on steps.

It's dark.

yeah.

We got people living there now.

So downtown, which was once a thriving business district, is now really and we started this good ten years ago becoming residential.

and it's still laid out sort of like a business district.

So when we're improving parks and we're bringing people down there, we're still, you know, trying to get it to feel a little more and a little more safe, a little bit less from 8 to 5, because you have that long ago downtown was packed, but at 5:00, everybody left.

Now it's getting busier at 5:00 because the workforce isn't there anymore.

And there are actually people living downtown, working in the suburbs.

so we need to make this feel like a neighborhood for it to really take in, to get the retail, and get people on the streets because people make other people feel safe.

and that's really what we've been doing for quite some time now, a lot of these conversions.

But it wasn't designed, to be a neighborhood.

It was designed to be a business district.

So, changing that over as we were discovering, it's going to take a little time.

And, you know, we focus on a little area.

We get that really nice and up and running and then we're going to focus on another area.

So, you know, Midtown block all doing really well right now.

Yeah.

Then we got to go back to the to the four corners and get all of that up and running again, which the new part would help a lot.

Well, Brian, I think it's interesting.

You know, Ken talks about the idea that if you're around parcel five, if you're in downtown, set the reputation aside or any perceptions aside, it is pretty safe.

And, doesn't mean it's perfect.

No place is perfect.

But part of the point there is like if you set stereotypes or assumptions aside, it's pretty safe.

You also don't note in the piece that Ken and a number of others still want this idea of downtown ambassadors or street ambassadors.

People might walk you to the car, might be kind of liaisons.

And so, how much is there any momentum for, for that now that we've kind of move past the bid, the bid war, so to speak, I think there's always been interest, particularly from property owners.

I think somewhat you saw that from the city.

and then they, they created them in, in a different vein in the neighborhoods.

there was a concern because there's, you know, it goes back to, and I think they were still kind of guides, I remember, but they were retired law enforcement were the red shirts.

and so there's concern about, I think, maintaining the downtown and the same way that we appreciated for the diversity that it has for.

I was thinking, just as Ken was talking of so I you know, before coming here, spent a long time with the Democrat and Chronicle and we were there by Blue Cross Arena for a while, and then we moved over to Maine and Clinton totally different feel, for downtown and the vibrancy and whatnot.

totally different schedule, that you would see.

And just if you think about, you know, how quickly you can move between you know, we talked about creating a neighborhood, what it's like by dinosaur barbecue versus what it's like by City Hall versus what it's like at the Four Corners to parcel five to over by Eastman Theater.

so it's hard to really I think and that's the thing is, you know what?

What's your what's your event?

What's your festival?

What's your program that's going to knit all of that together when it gets, you know, so very different?

I think, you know, also you go to a neighborhood of play completely different, feel that you have there.

But I think and that's the thing is, you have those visitors right now, they're coming into hotels.

They're, you know, coming in across from to the convention center, across from the Riverside, hotel, which, if anybody hasn't seen it for a while, looks pretty bad.

we'll just say, so, you know, and there's folks who just need to know, like, well, you know, you might look down a street and not realize that.

Well, if you turn a corner, you're a dinosaur.

If you turn a corner, you're in the East End if you know and how to navigate that, because it is it can get you can move through so many different spaces so quickly.

So, Ken, before we let you go, I just want you to kind of follow up a little bit on that, about what you do want to see, because I know you're you're making the point that, that perceptions of safety might not always match reality, but I want to hear what you want to see happen.

And, and then if you could also talk just a little bit about the idea of density.

We have a lot of cities have lost some of the density, in different ways post-pandemic.

And Rochester, no exception.

So what do you want to see next year?

I really think at this point we need to really start getting businesses to come back downtown.

we over you know, historically, we feel each other's tenants and we leave big holes behind us.

like the Four corners, most of those tenants moved over towards parcel five, and we don't have anyone to fill in those spaces unless they come from outside the city.

that's what really needs to happen.

We need that balance of work and retail and living.

so what I would like to see is business owners being a little more open minded to the idea of helping downtown.

It's not perfect, and you're not going to have a sprawling parking lot outside your door.

But we need downtown Rochester to really continue the momentum that we've started.

And we have a lot of really good things going.

But, you know, to Brian's point in the hotel, those are big pieces that we got to get up and running.

for better or worse, we need Main Street really active again.

and just people living down there is not going to be enough to really get the density that we need to support restaurants.

And, you know, anything with live music?

we have tons of festivals.

So people do come downtown, but they're not downtown people.

They're just visiting.

and we need people to be think if I want to go out to dinner, think downtown first, not second.

And when you say you want businesses to do more, I mean be open to moving back downtown or moving.

I mean, moving their locations physically or something else.

physically.

you know, we still the office market is not great and that everywhere.

It's not great.

but some of these buildings to convert them all the residential, it's a long it's a hard lift.

And I don't know if we've hit that sort of breaking point where we can handle more residential.

So what do we do with these big, empty buildings?

we need some big companies to come at least take a look at Rochester because it is affordable.

we have a great workforce.

And, you know, there is a vision for a lot of us that we're going to be one of those cities eventually that has all the pieces, because we really do.

We have the river, we have High Falls.

Ontario, you know, Rochester region is really attractive when we can just get people that actually be open minded to being here, because transplants love it.

It's the people who grew up here that carry that, you know, not talked so great about it.

And, we're all responsible for cheerleading the city.

but we need it.

We need some activity.

We need, like, you know, shot of energy from outside the city some manner.

I mean, conservation is a great plus, but we also lost a big attorney firm in the process, so that was almost a net zero gain.

And that's why I'm talking about how we we get new tenants, but we leave big holes behind it.

And we're not able currently to fill those holes.

well, can we we.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Come on the program separately and let's, let's sit down and kind of go deep on and what you think, you know, are the possible paths forward for the city, because it has been a tough five years for all downtown's post-pandemic.

And I'd love to talk to you more if to come back.

I'd love to anytime.

Ken Glaser, the CEO of Buckingham Properties, I want to thank him for his time.

Thank you Ken, we'll talk to you soon.

Thanks.

Preciate it.

and Brian Sharp, I bet that is the best headline in this magazine.

I want to say Rochester or downtown.

Definitely.

Is the program downtown?

Hopefully.

I think that's very clever.

That's it is a whole other show, too.

And I'm here thinking about the work the Duttons are doing about home leasing.

Megan Hooper leading that.

Now it is it.

There's so much going on and it really is the next generation for a lot of these companies.

I know Brian can second me on this.

He's been covering some of their parents and grandparents, and now the next generation is taking the reins on this.

While when you think of, you know, when I got here, Midtown was sort of in the process of emptying out and then, you know, became that sort of bombed out looking building for a period of time.

And that's now probably the strength of downtown is in that area.

and for listeners, if they're not sure when he's saying Four Corners, that's the spaceship building, that used to have the rotating.

That building is now almost entirely or if not entirely vacant, up on top of the rotating restaurant.

What's in there?

I'm not exactly sure.

There's been everything from we're doing a show that cloud.

Everybody is always like, what's up in there?

Yeah.

Nobody know.

Even if there's a way you can leverage some of your local muscle to get me in there, I would love it's a it's a bucket list dream.

As a as a native roastery I want I want a photo essay.

And what's in there?

Why are you putting in Brno?

I said I want to do it.

All right, well, yeah.

Well, Berto, can I come with you?

Yeah.

You know, I love this idea.

I think it's great.

Aren't you curious?

I yeah, just said it.

I I'm begging you.

Let's do it.

Okay.

And now we all have a we all have an assignment now, but we've gotten off course.

So let me let's just kind of get ready to wrap here with a couple of things here.

We're back on the festival guide here.

The city magazine.

City magazine's new issue is the festival guide.

Festival is going on everywhere here.

And I mentioned earlier, just briefly, I want to make sure I mentioned the Tiki Festival because I do think it's so interesting.

Yeah.

Patrick Haskin notes that there's there's still some debate about terminology and appropriation.

I actually thought there was some really thoughtful comments in Patrick's piece.

Absolutely about that.

And yeah, and finding some nuance there.

I think the bar scene is being very responsible with that.

because it can be a sensitive topic and has been in years past.

and I, I think that's probably worth another conversation with the team behind easy Seller, because that probably won't open until later this summer.

And then of course, two weekends in August.

but it was a lot of fun last year, their inaugural year was was really fun.

It ended at Marge's, which like, who doesn't love March?

It was like in the sand during a tiki competition.

It was a swizzle competition.

It was very fun for sure.

Vibes for sure.

That is it's own conversation to come to a really, really interesting one.

Really good one.

And I'm somebody.

I'm like, I'm a sucker for great tiki cocktails too, so I know we are doing them here.

Yeah, we really are.

Yeah, we need to.

I need more of the pebbles getting pebbles.

Right.

We second it.

We pebbles everywhere.

Pebbles everywhere.

Jake, what have we missed on that festival?

We're going to read them all, but, I mean, like, the list is a long one here.

Oh, I would just.

Yeah, I would point.

I would point, listeners to become readers.

Check it out.

There's, it's, you know, we have some form of this every year and it's sort of a moving, living document that is written and rewritten and, you know, like Leah said, like it will come out every year and we are bound to have missed something.

So it's sort of a, a snowball effect over the course of the, over the course of the years, but yeah, man, I've seen these pages so many times.

My gosh, laying this thing out.

yeah.

Were you asking about the the the any anything in particular?

I don't, I know we can't we don't have time to do what we did last year, which is read every single festival that's ever been invented in our region.

But what are a couple that stand out that you go?

I bet you, our readers have not heard of or didn't know about this.

Well, listen, the first thing that came to mind for me is I'm very excited to see Thundercat at the jazz festival.

That's a that's a big one for me.

That's also a big boy.

Perhaps the biggest boy.

it is.

I think people have heard of the jazz festival Thundercat.

Now that's a different story.

That's an entirely different story.

Yeah.

yeah.

Listen, I can speak.

I can speak with authority about the design of the book.

Not necessarily the content contents within.

It's a great design.

It's.

Look at.

Look how good this.

Yeah.

And he has such a process.

So I do think you should talk about that.

Jake is so pretty, I can give you instead.

Everything's every month.

I love it.

He does the game, man.

Breakdown.

It's very sweet.

He's great.

It's very great.

It's very kind of you.

I love it.

I can I can talk for, like, 30s about that if we have the time.

What are we doing here?

Well, I'll.

I'll give you just the.

Instead of giving a recommendation for, like, a deep cut festival.

when I was doing the research for the cover of this issue, if you'll, if you have it in front of you, if you've seen it before, if you're on, on the internet here, watching us, this is, this is sort of a culmination of a bunch of research that I was doing into the New York State Fair, promotional archives, and it led me to the Onondaga County Library system.

And that led me to all of these artifacts of print that, mostly from the mid 80s, but they're styled like, they were designed in the 70s.

pieces of print that print ephemera that you may like, find tossed off of a library shelf, somewhere.

And this particular, color scheme and general, scattered esthetic is what I'm calling it.

The, it's all stickers.

Esthetic.

comes from the 8485 Cayuga Chamber Orchestra program book that was produced in Ithaca, New York in the mid 80s.

It has some of the most beautiful, beautifully, thoughtfully designed ads for small local businesses, music shops, sign makers, everything.

within it.

and I kind of, once I was, I kind of threw away the idea of, like, trying to figure out how to incorporate the, legacy of the New York State Fair promotional sweet, of images and printed materials.

And I went all in on the 8485 Cayuga Chamber Orchestra program book, which, which is which is out there.

It's it's if you if you search for it, you can find it.

But, take a look at this book.

There's a lot of detail in there.

It's it's a very detailed, choice.

It always takes a ton of time and, a ton of, you know, pencil sharpening, but I like when it comes out, you know, I like when it comes out like this.

Yeah.

So that's 84, 85 beautiful years.

I was not around, but neither was I. Yeah, I picked it up immediately.

And that's what I thought of like is this 8485.

This feels like, hey, is anyone else going to 84, 85 for this?

I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was off a little bit.

Oh, the death of hard core.

It's a great looking book.

Festival season is going to be a lot of fun here.

Liz.

Stacey.

take us home here is is there 1 or 2 that you look at that and you go, I can't believe this, but, like, this is really cool.

This is fun.

I, I just love the small town festivals.

Like I think about, is it Avon that has the Corn Festival, like the Rotary Corn Festival, like a whole festival.

I bet Brian Trap grew up near something around it.

I mean, we probably all said, where are you from?

Nebraska.

Nebraska?

Oh, that's a little bit further than I was expecting.

welcome to Rochester.

Thanks.

Yeah.

I mean, we've worked together for so long, I never that you know about it about Brian Sharp there.

Look at that.

Yeah.

Lori Fields, learn anything?

yeah.

But often those festivals that you're talking about, those are like the beating heart hearts trout.

I think we found one with the photo.

Awesome.

Trout.

Yeah.

Go to a festival you have never attended this year.

I bet you somebody somewhere is going to go to all of them.

Yeah, just like, open the book and put your finger down on the guide and just like, see what you point at and you got to go.

And if you're that person who goes to all of them, you need to give us a call.

Yeah, honey, I want to talk to you.

Brian will write your story and sue from all of us here and the team at City Magazine with this beautiful new addition.

Enjoy festival season.

Thank you for listening.

We're all back with you tomorrow on member supported public media.

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