From WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Well, our connection this hour begins with a question.

What if we didn't have to leave home to have a world class experience?

Those are the words of city Magazine editor Leah Stacy writing about the Finger Lakes.

The July issue of the magazine is all about the vacation destination that is almost literally right in our backyard.

And this hour, we explore some of those world class experiences with the city team and the people creating them.

We're going to welcome our colleagues now, Leah Stacy, editor of City Magazine, back with us.

Hello.

Hello.

Hi.

Got the whole team with you here.

Next to Leah is Jake Walsh, who wasn't even scheduled.

And, he's the art director.

It's nice to have.

You can't keep me away.

I'm back.

Happy to be here.

Back from vacation.

And right back.

Directly back from vacation.

Great to have you.

Right across from Jake is Roberto Berto is multimedia reporter for City magazine.

Welcome back.

Always happy to be here.

Nice to see you.

And Patrick Haskin, arts reporter for City Magazine.

Nice to see you, sir.

And you?

So we've got, we've got a wonderful issue with a I got to say, Jake, it's a great cover.

It's it's quaint.

It's beautiful.

It's kind of vintage.

And before we kind of get into some of the art and some of the the content here, I like here's what what I said right at the top here.

Leah, I was thinking about that in Rochester.

If you hear somebody else bashing Rochester who's not from Rochester, you get kind of defensive about it.

But if you are talking about your hometown, you're kind of like, I don't know.

I hear people say like, well, there's nothing to do.

And that's when I'm always like, really?

I mean, like, we really are so close to this amazing place.

So I love the idea of asking, what if we didn't have to leave home to have a world class experience?

I just think a lot of your readers right up here in Rochester, proper or right nearby, don't think of it as home.

They think of it as like still a drive as opposed to like, part of home.

Yeah.

And I think that's fair.

I will say I'm coming off of a couple days down in the down on Cuca Lake, and I did stay over.

But you don't have to.

It's really how you plan out the day.

It's only like a 90 minute drive.

I mean, I'll do that back and forth to Syracuse to teach a class.

It's nothing.

You can get to Geneva in inside an hour from here.

Oh of course.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So so it's a matter of perception to some degree, but, but do you've also encountered people, even even people who should know better, like you're in the not only the arts world, but the food and beverage world.

And like everybody in those worlds should be pretty connected to the Finger Lakes has been kind of my opinion.

Yeah, but I mean, even being down there this weekend, it does feel like two different, I don't want to say cities, places, and two different cultures in a way, especially when you're talking about hospitality.

They're very much, like a wine making Finger Lakes sort of click.

Not in a bad way, but just because they're a little bit set apart.

A lot of them, if they're having a night out or going to Geneva, maybe Kennedy.

Agua.

Rochester is not an always thing for them.

Just like going to the Finger Lakes is not an always thing for us.

I think we could all be doing better about the overlap, and that's one of the reasons we started doing this annual issue, is because it is so close, and there are great things going on in all of the on all of those lakes.

Yeah.

And and I actually think that's a really important point that we is making.

Sometimes we talk about, a lot of different things, but certainly the Finger Lakes as a region, as if it's a monolith.

It's not, you know, Geneva is not Ithaca.

There's different vibes, but those are both more cities than than towns or villages or very rural areas.

There's a lot of poverty in the Finger Lakes region.

We understand that, they have a lot of challenges with everything from housing to education to health care and probably as a program, we could cover it even more and even better.

And that's one of the goals of this program.

So listeners, if you're on, if you're listening on iOS or 89, five FM, or on the app, and that's either home for you or you're there a lot and you want more coverage, always send us ideas that connections at talk, we can definitely do more.

This this issue is in some ways it's an exploration.

It's a celebration in different ways.

I mean, how would you describe it?

Leah.

Exactly like that.

But we did for this issue, I think, more than last year's issue, try to bring in some new year and maybe more impactful stories.

I know that word is not like right, but things that really are having art making a difference.

Whether it's New York Kitchen's Young Chefs program, which is really making a difference in the lives of a lot of children out there, and even as far as Rochester or if it's, you know, what's going on with those college in the town of Aurora, because that is a massive, ongoing story that is impacting a very small village and the livelihood of all the villagers.

So, let me just talk to some of your colleagues, and we're going to as the hour goes on here, we're going to bring in some of the voices who show up in the pages of City Magazine here.

It is a beautiful color.

Jay cover.

Jake.

And I'm glad you're back here to talk about what's the goal here.

What what did you want to do with the cover?

Thank you so much.

And you should be what listeners should be watching on YouTube so you can see the cover.

Oh, check it out.

Where's my camera?

That one I think probably this one.

This one over here.

Two cameras.

Yeah.

But we'll make sure that we, we post and share there.

Yeah.

Thank you.

It is kind of what I think of summer.

Yeah.

Well, so the inspiration for this cover, a, this is a style that I'm very fond of, be it features, a Roberto Lugares original photograph.

Which this this.

I'm sure he'll talk about that later in the hour.

But there is so much beautiful film photography that he did for this issue that to me, like, encapsulate, not just the Finger Lakes, but being on the water and a very specific feeling of being on the water, being near the water, kind of being right on the shore.

It's a very transportive image that you'll find on the cover.

And the vacation that I was just on while it wasn't in the Finger Lakes, it was in the Adirondack Park, my favorite place to be in the world.

I was camping on it's lake with my fiancé and I. I noticed that a lot of the signage in the Adirondacks, to me, there was a madman designer in the 20th century that thought, I'm going to put Art Deco fonts all over this park, this big old park.

And, so I drew a lot of inspiration from specifically a lot of iconography and signage that I found in the Adirondack Park region, which is vast and has a beautiful, like visual lexicon and history that has been documented in, the conservationist magazine and all of the signage, the official like New York State signage.

A lot of them are wood carved signs with Art Deco fonts, inexplicably like, chiseled into them.

So when you're entering the Adirondack Park, going towards Old Forge, there is a sign, a wooden sign, that is shaped like the Adirondack Park region that says entering Adirondack Park region or something like that.

I stopped and took a picture of it on my way up there.

And I think subconsciously, I had this trip on the books for a couple of months, and I was thinking about going to the Adirondacks, and applying some of that strange Art Deco whimsy to, to this, like, setting.

And then the background that's just logs.

That's just wood.

You find a lot of wood near the lake.

I don't really have, like, a long romantic explanation for that.

But the font that you'll find on here is a slim, condensed like, Art Deco font with a big old G right in the middle, which is to me, an I draw.

And then there is something very tactile about this photograph.

And the picture of the logs in the background.

So I thought, oh, I've got some extra time today.

And this was a couple weeks ago.

Grabbed our logo, printed it out, cut it out with an exacto knife, you know, crinkled it up and photographed it with a flash.

So there would be a bit of a shadow and it would add some depth to this picture.

So you'll see that up in the top left.

And then in the bottom right of the photo, there's a little hand etching that indicates the month.

You might find that on like a piece of film photography that your grandma saved or whatever.

So this cover is like to me, all about nostalgia set and setting, being by the water, feeling very organic and, just having this touch of strange art deco, contrast, I love it.

it's one of my favorites of mine.

But I really felt good.

But no, it's good.

I think it looks great.

I mean, it just evokes the moment right now, the feeling of summer and later this hour, we're going to talk to Berto about a pretty cool place down on hemlock.

Hemlock?

Like.

Right.

Yeah.

And so we're gonna, we're going to talk about canoe making, which for my family, this is like you reported on a direct competitor.

So my my family is from Jamestown and Dawson.

Metal has made metal canoes for years.

So if you if you went to a YMCA camp, like camp quarry camp on Yasa down on Chautauqua Lake.

Those are Dawson metal canoes.

One of them is at the bottom of Chautauqua Lake.

That, a couple of my campers were riding in when I was a counselor.

When I was 17 years old, they stood up in the canoe and I told them, that's why you don't stand up.

It will flip.

And you it will sink.

And they swam over to my canoe.

So yeah, it's at the bottom.

But I love that because there's a lot we're going to cover.

We're going to talk about the sounds of summer coming up here.

A lot to get to, but we're going to start with one of Leah's stories.

The story's called Area of Constant Dawn, and Rachel Snyder, president of the Wells Legacy Society and Wells College alumna class of 2011, is on the line with us now.

Hello, Rachel.

Thanks for being with us.

Do we have Rachel?

Do we have Rachel?

Yeah.

I'm not hearing Rachel.

Are we hearing it out?

Yeah.

There you are.

Hey, Rachel.

Hi.

Thank you so much for having me.

So we've talked about the ongoing situation of the former Wells College site in Cayuga County on this program.

That story is prominently featured in this month's issue, and I want to give Leah some time to kind of talk about that, and we'll talk about some of the issues here.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

So as I told Rachel, this was a little bit of kismet because this story had been on my radar, for a few months.

And then when the Landmark Society announced their five to Revive and Wells College was on there, Rachel followed up with an email to me telling me about the Wells Society and I immediately bookmarked it, and I believe I wrote back to her and said, stand by, we're going to do a Finger Lakes issue.

This will be a great fit.

And so, it was a pleasure to chat with her and, to report this story.

It's intensely interesting and also just still really developing.

I mean, this is not the whole story because it can't be yet.

So, that's part of I guess the question is, I mean, when you say it can't be.

Yeah.

That's right.

There's a lot of questions about where this is going next year.

Yeah.

And for listeners who don't know, Wells College did close last year.

And the Wells Society, I will let Rachel talk a little bit more about the work they're doing and some of the victories that they've had even while this story was being reported.

But, it is really one of the things other than the Civil War, that was sort of a destination in the village of Aurora on Cayuga Lake.

And, was employing a large amount of people throughout the area for decades.

I mean, there were entire families, generations of families that were employed by Wells College.

So I'll let I'll let Rachel tell you about some of the good work she's doing.

Well, Rachel, in the piece, you say Aurora is a little jewel, the Finger Lakes, and it would be a tarnish on the legacy to just let Wells fade into oblivion.

This is exactly what we were talking about when we said the region is not a monolith and Aurora is its own sort of little charm and character.

Tell us why you feel so strongly about the future of Wells, or at least, you know that site there?

Rachel.

Yeah, absolutely.

And again, thank you so much for having me.

So if you haven't visited Aurora, for folks that are listening, it is a stunning place on the Finger Lakes.

It's nestled on Cayuga Lake, north of Ithaca on the east side of the lake, and it is a stunning village.

It, you know, looks out over the lake.

It has beautiful historic homes.

Many of the buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, and you just feel like when you're driving or walking into town, like you're stepping into stepping into the past.

So it's absolutely tremendous.

And as far as the campus goes, whoever the next, owner or whoever resides in that space next, we really want to make sure that they safeguard the architecture they want to make.

We want to make sure that the unique and historic campus remains a vibrant part of the community.

Well, this was an institution for 156 years.

It was founded by Henry Wells.

And there's just so much beauty in that area.

And we think it would be a shame if somebody came in and didn't really appreciate all of the wonderful buildings and spaces that already exist.

And, listeners may remember our conversation.

Was it this spring that we did on five to revive the Landmark Society back in March?

The Landmark Society's annual five to revive included, Wells College.

And what happens with those buildings and sites?

What?

Rachel, what's the worst case scenario for you?

What do you kind of dreading that could happen?

Absolutely.

So what I would dread is if somebody came in with a wrecking ball and tore down some of the some of the buildings to make way for condos or, spaces that aren't accessible to the rest of the community.

I'm all about affordable housing and different areas, but if if the, you know, someone came in and made it an inaccessible spot, that would be very heartbreaking to me.

Because Wells was accessible by members of the community community for so long, alums could come back and walk on the campus.

Community members when I was in college were often seen, you know, maybe walking their dogs or having a cup of coffee or chatting with somebody on campus or could come to a performance, or an event that was on campus.

So I would really hope that whoever comes in doesn't turn it into some kind of exclusive community and take a wrecking ball to all of those beautiful buildings.

And what's the best case?

The best case would be a nonprofit or an educational organization that can breathe some new life into the campus and continues to, have a strong relationship with the village.

You know, a retirement community, maybe a school, maybe a performing arts space, maybe a mixed use space, any of those things that would incorporate, you know, the existing structures with some new ideas would be very welcome.

So the way my brain often thinks about the region, it still goes back to my writing wine writing days.

So I in my brain, the region is sort of marked territorially by like the wineries that I've either covered or visited or written about.

And so I spent much more time in that region when I was at At Heart and Hands.

And they're early days and there's, some really, really cool stuff happening on that.

So, like, if you're over in Penn and that might be like the far side of the Finger Lakes, you're like, I do it all the way over there.

It's not that long of a drive, actually.

It turns out, and there's a lot of lovely things to pass on the way out there.

But then some of the history I want to read from Leah's piece on some of this history quote.

Notable Wells alumni include Frances Folsom, who would later become president, Grover Cleveland First Lady, and then Mary Wells College president Thomas J. Preston, Jr. After Cleveland's death, serving on the.

That's scandalous.

After she didn't write that, that was me serving on the Wells Board of Trustees.

I thought about it years.

But perhaps the most notable alum is pleasant T Rowling, creator of the American Girl dolls and books, who injected a sizable amount of money into redeveloping historic village properties from 2001 to 2007.

Rowling, who lives in Madison, Wisconsin, is largely responsible for the inns of Aurora, a luxury resort, resort and spa that's been featured in architectural Digest and National Geographic Traveler, as well as recently landing on the Travel and Leisure World's Best List 2020 for the Connie Nast Traveler Readers Choice Awards 2024 and the Vogue Global Spa Guide.

Not.

And there's a lot more.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, like, that's just a little a little flavor of it, but, yeah, just a lot of character.

And, Leah, do you find yourself I mean, like, I mean, you're the editor of a magazine or journalist, but you're a writer.

Do you have, like, a rooting interest here?

What do you want to see happen?

Well, after talking with Rachel and Karen, I have a lot more insight into how this is impacting the village.

In that area in general, I have a lot more understanding of just how people are making a living and why they live there.

And, you know, as somebody who went to a small undergrad institution myself, which I won't name it, but it has it has also been rumored to not be doing very well.

You know, Rachel, I think you gave me this statistic that, private colleges are closing at a rate of something like one a week.

Right.

And it's in the story.

That's correct.

And, that that has been confirmed by, by research that, you know, I looked up after we spoke and it's just it's kind of heartbreaking.

We're seeing really our educational, systems are sort of breaking down because they have to because it's time to reevaluate them.

But I, I really am with Rachel on this.

I would love to see that become a place that is really for the community, not roped off, not blockaded, not access only to people who can afford it or, you know, it's for a specific niche audience.

This needs to stay a for for the village and for that area of the Finger Lakes as, as lid notes.

In the meantime, residents might see their water bills rising.

The village is taken on a $300,000 annual cost operating the plant.

I mean, there's a lot of sort of it's so layered, a lot of downstream effects, for sure.

So, Rachel, as we let you go here, you know, whether it is a, you know, a Chautauqua Institution esque kind of, solution, something that is more arts, maybe open air combined with the building spaces.

There's a lot of different things that could happen.

Are you more optimistic or pessimistic right now as and where this is all going?

I'm trying to remain optimistic, especially considering our recent victory of, Hobart William Smith becoming a legacy partner.

For the college and, you know, creating space to safeguard some of our assets that are particularly in archives related to the alums.

So I am trying to remain optimistic, and I hope that the board of trustees and their decisions, puts community first.

Good luck to you.

I know we'll be in touch.

There's a lot of news still to come and a lot of different ways it could go.

And we'll talk to you again.

Rachel, thank you very much for making time for the program.

Yeah.

Of course.

Thank you so much for having me.

Have a great day.

Rachel Sanders, president of the Wells Legacy Society and Wells College alumna, class of 2011.

Leah Stacey's piece in the current edition of City Magazine is the area of constant done, and it is a beautiful place.

So we're going to turn now.

Let's talk.

Let's talk boats.

It's the finger Lakes issue of City magazine.

It's available now wherever City Magazine is located.

Hopefully in your hands this afternoon, maybe with a, a good summer cocktail or a cup of coffee or something.

And, we're going to bring in Matt Casale, who's the owner of Hemlock Canoe, who's on the line with us now?

Hello, Matt.

How are you?

Hi, Evan.

I'm doing well.

Thanks.

Matt is also the head winemaker at 20 Deep in Mendon.

He's the only person I've ever introduced is, like, oh, at his side job as a head winemaker.

I mean, like, that's that's a lot, man.

It's a lot of work.

How's it going?

It's going great.

A lot going on.

You know, if you do something you love, you never work a day.

That's a long way.

I mean, I love this job, and it feels like work.

Plenty of.

It's a lot of work, and it's the good kind of work.

But I hear what you're saying.

I'm going to let that cliche pass.

As we talked to Matt, the piece, it's a photo essay from Berto.

It's called Float On, and I'm going to give Berto a chance to kind of take us through that.

And again, I hope.

I hope our audience is picking up the magazine and seeing some of these great visuals.

What did you see there, Berto?

So honestly, I mean, it was just it was just incredible.

Perfect.

Tell us where you went.

Like.

Like.

Yeah, where this is.

So we, I met up with Matt, at the shop, which again, I, I do this kind of.

I say it every time, like, I try to go in as blind as possible, but still have done enough research, so I'm not lost.

But mainly because I want my eye to naturally bring me to, like, what is interesting.

If I find it interesting in the moment, there's a good chance someone else will.

So met with him at the shop, and much like recent days, it was hot.

And, Yeah, I mean, it's just this cool little nook.

I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere, which, I mean, basically, you could say I was, And I wasn't sure how big the operation was going to be, but it's, you know, this nice, small little, I like, almost like a pole barn.

But it's simple, and but the craftsmanship is is intense.

I mean, we're talking molds of boats and, you know, both completed.

You've got the ones in progress.

The wood shop on the left, the, I guess you could say, I guess, Matt, you can kind of correct me if I'm wrong, like, kind of where, you know, where the molding happens on the right.

But, yeah.

And I knew going into it that I had this image of the stall, kind of what, Jake was touching on.

And I was like, I really want to capture this all on film.

This is just seems very, like, appropriate for, this issue.

Did you put yourself in a canoe for this piece?

I did, yeah, I did, so later, half day, we went to the went to Canada, and, Matt was like, hey, you know, you you want to get in the canoe?

And I was like, I intended it.

I intended to do so.

Yeah.

And he was like, if you want to leave your cameras here, I mean, like, you could flip.

And I was like, that's kind of why I'm here.

So we gotta we gotta just risk it for the biscuit, you know?

And, and actually, it's funny, that's that's actually something that, ended up working out was the fact that I was shooting it.

I mean, I'm shooting digitally and on film, you know, digital, just in case you never know what's going to happen.

But in that moment when he was like, yeah, you could flip.

Just so you know, I was like, all right, well, I'm leaving the digital camera in the car.

I'm bringing out the film camera, because even if I flip, there's a chance that the, the, the photos are safe.

So that's what we did.

We got in there or I got in there.

I at first I thought we were going in the same canoe.

I figured, you know, I'd have, like, some, some guidance, be like, no, no, no, you're going in your own canoe.

Like, that's, you know, we're not we're not, flipping together.

But yeah.

No, it was great.

It was great.

And the weather couldn't have been any better.

And it's just so.

I mean, I was just entranced by, like, the entire process of, like, What I went, which I don't remember which boat it was, but he.

When when he was going through all the different kinds, he had this massive boat, and he goes, all right, check this out.

And he's like, hold this.

And just, like, drops it right before I could even grab.

And I grabbed it and it was like 25 pounds.

Massive boat was so lightweight.

It was I mean, it's just wild to see like the different variations and stuff.

The craftsmanship is unbelievable.

How many boats are you making a year?

Matt?

Oh, we do about one a week, I would say, all year round.

Yep, yep.

So but about 50.

But yeah, that is amazing.

Well, listen, I'm a journalist.

I want to know what I gotta pay for a boat.

What's the cost?

Sure.

So, most of our stuff is pretty customized, so that creates a little bit of a range.

Yep.

So we tailor the materials we use to kind of use case, so we can work with you on budget, but then also things like the weight of the finished product that's a priority for you or some people.

Product really put a lot of priority on such things like durability.

So because we do so much customization, the, the price point moves around a little bit, but usually in like the 2 to $4000 range is where we land.

Okay.

And I come in with you with an order.

What's the timeline for getting this thing done?

Probably 4 to 6 weeks.

So we would usually have, a session where we would sit down and discuss kind of what you were looking for out of your to do, how you plan to use it.

You know, if you planned on bringing your dog or your whole family or camping gear or anything like that.

And then we would, get you out on the water test, paddling a bunch of different boats to see which one felt comfortable to you, basically.

And also did what you were asking for it.

So, yeah.

And then we would, allow you to pick things like what you wanted your trim to look like, what color you wanted your boat to be.

Yeah.

And try to find the perfect canoe for you.

And then it takes us about 4 to 6 weeks to get one done, I would say.

Are there other pressures?

In in your.

I guess the word is industry to.

I mean, like, is it hard to stay in business doing this at the scale that you're doing at, it is.

Yeah.

It's not you know, it's there's a lot of competition with other small watercraft like, you know, plastic kayaks and things like that.

But a lot of what we see is people get involved in the sport and develop a passion for the sport through something like an affordable, you know, small craft that they bought at Dick's Sporting Goods or something, realize that they love it and it's worth a serious investment.

And then they usually come and see us.

So, you could scale the operation and start selling at other boat shops and dealers and stuff, but we prefer to kind of keep things in the house, get to see and talk to all our customers one on one and kind of keep the scale, more intimate and more craftsman like.

So.

Yeah.

And so, Berto, spoiler alert you did not flip the boat.

Didn't.

Okay.

No.

And you had a lovely job, actually.

Loved it.

Loved it.

I mean, I'm sure you've canoed and kayaked before.

I've been in a kayak.

I don't know if I've been in it.

I don't think I've had been in a canoe, or at least not one like this.

I mean, it is really one of the great peaceful things you can do, especially in like a super digitized world.

It's one of the really great ways to just, I mean, to just totally turn your brain off from that.

Oh, yeah.

There's no checking your phone, that's for sure.

Yeah.

And so, I mean, like, you know, I mean, no offense to the people, like working at Granite Age or whatever, but, like, you could be like creating Bitcoin.

You could be doing things and you're like, is this better for the world?

I don't know, but you are creating something that's like, definitely making people's lives better.

And that's got to be a cool thing to to feel.

I think it is.

I mean, that's one of the reasons why my wife and I got into the business is because it was something we were passionate about already ourselves.

Just getting out in nature and just connecting for a while, I think really does a lot.

But beyond that, there's a paddling community in Rochester and beyond too.

And, we've just met a lot of amazing people through paddling and canoeing.

And I think that helping to grow that community and staying a part of it, offers a lot of value.

And there's a that paddling community includes the night on the lake on Tuesdays on Canada's lake.

How many how many canoes come out for that?

So we bring, at least one of every canoe model that we make, with us so people can test them out and, and try out all our different boat models.

But then aside from that, a lot of the, you know, members of the paddling community will turn up with their own boats because they know that there'll be other paddlers down at Canada's Lake on Tuesday.

So they use it as a chance to just meet up with their paddling buddies.

And it's awesome.

I mean, and was a couple weekends ago, I had a bunch of 13 year olds down in Canandaigua Lake, for a baseball tournament, and they were supposed to I set it up for them to go paddle boarding after our game, and they were told that it was too windy and they could blow off the paddle boards, which if you tell that to a 13 year old boy, that means they're like, you mean it's perfect?

Like it's the best possible.

It couldn't be more fun when they weren't, they weren't allowed to paddle board.

So we put them out in kayaks.

A lot of the kids had never done that, and they came back in and they were like, that was like so strange.

They like, chill.

I like that I was like, you know, like whatever, 13 year olds, I don't even think, but they loved it.

And, you know, however your first taste it, you know, if you end up loving it, this is something you can do forever, right?

Man?

I mean, like, you've probably got multi generations and like this is a forever activity.

It is we have you know, we have customers that have been buying boats made by hemlock for 50 years.

We have people that have raised their family around those boats.

And I think that's one of the things that our product offers is that they're so much lighter than plastic kayaks.

So, I mean, we could build 15ft long boats that way around 20 pounds.

And, you know, a 10 or 11ft boat, we can get down into the low teens.

So it just allows people to be able to pick the boat up, put it on the roof of their car and get out into the water.

Sometimes at an advanced age, it also allows you to carry that boat through the woods, down a path.

You know, portage it between between two quiet ponds.

Go on a camping trip where you're visiting a huge part of a park or something.

Without having to labor over carrying a 100 pound, you know, metal boat or something.

See, there is taking a shot at Dawson.

Metal.

It's our our family.

We really do make canoes.

I don't know what actually, we still do.

Is that your design?

Your slogan?

We really do.

Well know.

If you want me to advertise.

It's mostly Dawson doors.

Now.

They make doors for, like, big corporations.

I know, like, look them up, Jake.

It's a real thing.

I got to thing you have to cover.

They're gonna have to buy an ad.

You keep talking is weird.

I'm the only non journalist in the room.

You can't do the research.

So, Berto, great work with this.

A great images.

Really beautiful.

It's something I had no idea existed, which is like one of the great successes of City Mag.

It's like, oh, here I am.

I feel like I know the region pretty well.

This is a totally new thing to me, so cheers, Berto.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Don't think it.

I think it's interesting that how many people that live in Rochester metro that don't know about Canada's Hemlock Lake, you know, yeah, there's the two finger Lakes that Rochester uses as their, water supply for drinking water.

So because of that, they put pretty tight controls on, you're not allowed to build on the lake shore.

There's, restrictions for motorboat usage as well.

So they really are just like the most wild, calm lakes in the area.

Which is why we chose to build the canoe shop down there.

But it it feels like you've gone to the Adirondack Park or something, and it's really only, you know, 25 minutes outside of Rochester.

So it's worth the trip down to check out.

Thank you for making time for us.

Congrats on this.

I mean, you're a success.

I know you guys took over last year, I think.

Is that right?

Yep.

2024.

So congratulations to you.

And if people want to find you online, where do they go?

Matt.

So just hemlock, Newcomb, hemlock.

Canoe.com.

Have a great rest of the summer fall.

Here's to more success.

Thanks for being with us.

Thanks for having us on.

I mean, that's a such a cool story.

I love that story.

Well done Berto.

It's part of the the Finger Lakes issue, city magazine that we're talking about before we get to the next read.

By the way, I've got a phone call, so let me sneak it in now from Pat in Geneva, listening, I assume, was Finger Lakes Public Radio.

Hey, Pat, go ahead, as I always do.

There you go.

So I, I, I heard your preview saying you would be talking about he's I mentioned there's all kinds of cool stuff, including a cheese trail.

Yep, yep.

Well, there's, there's a surely new maybe the last two years, a shop on the west side of Geneva, right on route 24.

Sweet acres.

And they make the most incredible cheddar cheese.

I'm almost afraid to tell people for fear they'll run out.

And I won't get any more.

Thank you for your sacrifice.

Pat's facing his fears today, but anyone I've told about it, they've come back to me and said, oh, my God, that's some good cheddar cheese.

And of course, we have a lot of great cheddar cheese around the Finger Lakes.

But, since, I'm on that, another topic is, pubs.

So we're known, of course, for our wineries, which are great.

I love the wineries, but when you talk to me, when you want to get social, like I went out this weekend, I'm a single, retired guy.

I went out and had a great time with tourists.

Just people that are new to the area and you start talking to them and say, hey, if you've been down to Watkins Glen, yeah, we were there yesterday, but you need to go to to get it.

You need to do this.

But anyhow, I ran into people at Lake Drum Brewing, which is right in Geneva.

Great pub, very social.

And there's another pub just south of Geneva.

I mean, just out like a mile.

The big Alice, another great.

My, my friends and I play trivia there every Wednesday night.

Just a great place.

So those were my my comments.

And you're right there on Linden Street, coolest street in the Finger Lakes, Pat.

I mean, you got it.

Oh, man.

Linden streets.

Pretty cool street.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you for the phone call, Pat.

And we we did an excellent story on Lake Drum.

I think two issues ago there was a big.

We have a Geneva based writer and photographer.

He's pretty good at, keeping keeping tabs on what's going on.

So maybe maybe he knows about Sweet Acres, too.

And before I get to our only break here, I want to thank Pat for the phone call.

Listeners, throughout the Finger Lakes.

We love hearing from you and Pat brought up to Organic Falls, which is down in Truman's burg just north of Ithaca.

Best waterfall in the Finger Lakes, although Grimes Glen.

Not as big, but you can literally, like, walk up that one of their little waterfalls, which is really cool.

If, if you're well insured and you don't say that I sent you.

So there's a lot of cool places.

And to Ganic is definitely one of them.

Awesome stuff, Pat, I appreciate it.

We've gotta gotta get our only break in.

We'll take that break now.

It's, the team from city magazine.

It is their issue on the Finger Lakes, and we're having a great time with the team.

Much more on the other side of this.

Only break.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Tuesday on the next connections.

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They make friendships sometimes already romantic relationships.

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Someday we're just going to roll.

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What do we say during these brief breaks?

Yeah, but not today.

Leah.

Stacy, remind listeners, remind listeners of the theme of this is the July issue.

July 25th.

Yeah.

The theme is the Finger Lakes.

And the goal of the issue is to do what?

For your readers to bring a little more finger Lakes content to Rochester.

To our readers, I think we distribute as far as Geneva last time I talked.

So we are in the Finger Lakes.

And I think Wegmans is probably one of the easier places to find us.

We're back in Wegmans.

I've seen you in Geneva for sure.

Yes, we know we definitely are in Geneva.

I think that's the farthest we go.

But we're is happy to to get magazines into the Finger Lakes and.

Yeah, we every July we're going to do a Finger Lakes issue.

This is our second.

How long have I worked here.

Second.

What is time issue.

What is time.

Amity Coffee and Pinion should have this.

There's a lot of.

I went there over the weekend.

Oh.

Well.

Yeah.

Good place.

I got an espresso tonic with, like, a house orange sirup.

It's probably pretty good.

Phenomenal I now, yeah.

Really good coffee house and and a lot of good things happening.

Yeah.

And a lot of different places.

I've got to get to the story of the sounds of summer.

And Patrick Hosking is here.

All right, Patrick, before we bring in our guests here, why don't you set it up for us here?

Yeah.

Finger lakes opera speaking of opera, well, we were talking about our program, talking about the Finger Lakes.

Right.

That's.

Anyway, I haven't talked in a while, so.

I'm sorry.

I just come in.

Happy Monday.

Yeah.

It's good.

It's good to be back.

So.

Yes.

The Finger Lakes region has an opera company, sort of in a couple of different places over the years.

This season, their and their new home at city, and previously performed at MSK in some different places in Canandaigua.

But yeah, this is, this is a, an opera program that is, about a decade old, maybe a little bit more, started sort of affiliated with Suny Geneseo, but now is very much, come into its own as a place for, particularly great shows.

And I think that's really well, well borne out in the two shows that they're doing this summer, which is Rigoletto, which is obviously one of the sort of the heavy hitters of opera, but also they're doing, a piece by Joseph Malone called The Anonymous Lover.

And, yeah, there's there's just a lot of great stuff happening there.

The company has a new artistic director, Stephanie Havey, who has done some productions there.

But this season's her first in that role, new head of music Brock Ches Vold, who's also been affiliated, but so some different, you know, title elevations in the company just kind of bringing in a little bit more of, I don't know, a renewed spirit.

And some great performers.

The kind of the cool thing with Finger Lakes Opera is, they have folks who have, Rochester connections, though not everyone does operas kind of that way.

It's very much like theater where folks go kind of where the work is.

And but the community is also very small.

So when folks, you know, have an Eastman connection or just have some sort of hometown connection, in the case with Jasmine Saunders, who will be in, Rigoletto, there's a great, you know, reason to kind of show off those hometown connections and really celebrate the opera contributions of folks who, are from our area.

So, Patrick, where do people see Finger Lakes Opera performances?

So this this season it will be at RIT.

So it's I believe it's the I don't want to say the name on the McNamara theater.

Is that right?

Yeah.

It's pretty.

And here's the quote from Jasmine Saunders, who is playing Gilda in Rigoletto.

It quickly became a goal of mine to sing this role in its entirety.

Now that I'm able to do that and do it in my hometown, it means a lot to me.

Jasmine is with us.

Welcome.

Thank you for being with us.

Jasmine.

Hi.

Thank you for having me and congratulations on all your success.

Tell us a little bit more about what it means to be part of, this company doing this role and getting a chance to do it here.

Yes.

Everything about being involved with Finger Lakes Opera is full circle for me.

Not only have I been dreaming of singing the role of Gilda for many years, but I get to do it in my hometown and in the town where I went to undergrad, the Eastman School of Music.

So it seems it feels like a perfect situation to sing a dream role of mine, to be in my hometown and to work with so many colleagues who I am familiar with.

For example, when I was at the Eastman School of Music, I was a recipient of the William Warfield Scholarship, and I have two colleagues who I went to school with at Eastman, who were also former William Warfield recipients, which are Jonathan Pierce Rhodes and Holden Turner.

So in addition to being in my hometown and singing my dream role, I get to work with wonderful colleagues and reunite with them.

And it's just wonderful.

I remember, I've been hosting the show for about 11 years, and I remember some of the earlier days of Finger Lakes Opera and talking to some people down from Geneseo about goals of, you know, building up, the company.

And here you are, Patrick makes this point, Jasmine, that often if you're in the opera world, you go, well, in theater and opera, you go where the work is.

So, what's the future of Finger Lakes opera?

I mean, what do you.

Where do you see it now?

And where do you see it going?

If it is as successful as you all want it to be?

Yes.

So my, my first time being involved with Finger Lakes Opera was actually in 2021 when I was an undergrad, and I was a super Marie in The Barber of Seville.

And so at that time, I was just finding out that this company existed.

And I was very, very excited to learn that there was a regional opera company in Rochester, in my hometown.

And, more than anything, I wanted to be involved in this production because I wanted to see artists who were much more experienced than me, perform this work.

I wanted to see what the rehearsal process looked like on a professional level.

And a lot of the singers that I got to observe rehearsing, Barbara Seville, have, just grown in their opera careers in leaps and bounds.

And many people who have sung lead roles at this company have gone off to, have these wonderful operatic careers, and go all the way to the Metropolitan Opera and big houses like that.

And so now, several years later, coming back to Finger Lakes Opera and singing, one of my first Verdi leading ladies.

I'm just very excited because I know the history of, Finger Lakes really putting young artists at the forefront and fostering young stars and seeing where they go in the future.

So it's been really exciting how do you think the response has been?

I mean, how I think a lot of that's connected to how aware a community is.

I the the community knows that you have this opportunity, has that grown and is that growing enough?

I believe so I am very impressed by how fast, how fast, Othello has been gaining traction.

And I just remember seeing their application on Yap Tracker, which is like a, a website for young opera singers to find opportunities.

I remember seeing that they were hiring for a young artist programs, and, wanting, emerging artists, and just allowing a lot of the younger opera singers to work professionally in this field.

And so I feel like Finger Lakes Opera has been just elevate, did elevate it in their promotional materials, elevated in, the material that they're putting out as far as productions.

And it's been really exciting to see well before we let you go, Jasmine, I don't want to get cliche.

I want to ask Patrick and you just to just briefly, I think the cliches like, how do you convince people who didn't grow up with opera to like, like opera?

And I know that's kind of cliche, but I also think there is so much quality.

I mean, it's so incredible to to experiencing it.

And if you haven't and if you don't feel like you're of that world, I mean, Patrick, are you of that world?

Definitely not.

But it's a it's the thing that I have taken an interest in learning about, because I think I had this same question and I was speaking with, I when I was speaking with folks for this story.

Elizabeth Long is the executive director at Finger Lakes Opera.

I was able when I spoke to Jasmine as well.

I mean, I think the short answer and I think the great thing that flow has been doing is they are going out and meeting that community.

So they have a they had a Juneteenth event at Mount Olive at Baptist Church.

There's going to be a screening of film that, Joseph Malone, who the composer of The Anonymous Lover is the subject of this documentary, is going to have that screening at the little as well as, like, a talk.

There's also an event at Artisan Work.

So I think that the I think that that perception will I don't know if it'll ever go away, but it's certainly they're about going to meet opera, maybe feeling like you have to catch up or something.

And so I, I would I love that film has been doing is staging community events where, you know, you don't have to necessarily go and experiencing it in the theater or go in with any kind of thing.

You can experience it in a new context, and maybe that can be something that, you take away with you.

Yeah.

So, Jasmine, forgive that kind of cliche question, but but make the case you got 30s before we got to get to our next story here.

If people have never seen opera, I should come see you guys.

Why?

Because opera is such a transcendent art form.

You have, the combination of music and life, theater and, orchestral music and costumes and beautiful sets.

And it's just an experience of a lifetime.

And if you have never seen opera before, if you just take the chance to see it one time, I guarantee you you will be hooked.

Well, really to you, but to everyone involved with the flow.

Congratulations on your success.

Have a wonderful rest of the summer and thanks for making time for joining us today.

Jasmine, thank you very much for having me.

Jasmine Saunders, who is, part of the Finger Lakes Opera team, The sounds of Summer is the piece Patrick Hosking wrote it for City magazine in this issue.

Oh my gosh, we've got so much to get to in the last eight minutes here.

And can I say one thing from Yvonne?

Yes, Jasmine was very kind and humble, but one of those performers who went on to perform at the Met Opera is Jasmine.

So just to say, worth saying absolutely.

Should call that out very recently, in fact.

Yeah, she just made her debut.

Yeah.

David writes and to point out that Ithaca is number one on CNN Travel's list of America's best towns to visit in 2025.

Okay, so there you go.

I saw that and briefly, Mary Thompson calling from hemlock Lake.

The floor is yours.

Mary wants to share a few things about hemlock.

Go ahead.

Mary, hello and thanks for taking my call.

Yes, we have a little lakes, Little Finger Lakes Community center, and it is across the street from the fairgrounds.

But there's events.

There is space and opportunity for other events to happen, but we have a gift shop with 60 local artists.

We have some classes and opportunities for those like to teach some other classes.

There's a gymnasium, pickleball, a stage.

We have concerts, there's small businesses on the upstairs and lower floors with yoga and music lessons and sculpture, robotics through the history room.

And a historical element to this 1929 old school, you're hired, you're hired to do the PR for for him.

Like, that's awesome.

Great stuff there.

And it kind of dovetails with what we where we were saying earlier, we couldn't possibly cover it all, but a lot of great stuff going on, including pickleball, of course.

Pickleball.

That's great.

I still haven't played.

I thank you for the phone call there.

I've got to bring in Laura Downey, who's director of food and beverage education programs at New York Kitchen.

Leah Stacy's piece is called gateway to the Finger Lakes.

And Laura is with us now.

Hello, Laura.

Hello, everyone.

So, Leah, Stacy, tell us about the gateway to the Finger Lakes here.

It really is.

Yeah.

So New York Kitchen has undergone a lot of change.

Probably some listeners remember when it was the New York Wine and Culinary Center and Canandaigua?

Yeah.

Yes.

In Canada.

Thank you.

And, I connected with Elissa Belasco, who is, you know, has been running it since, pretty much around the pandemic.

She took the helm, and Laura and her are just doing some amazing things along with the rest of the team.

But I love the young chef series.

Especially when I was chatting with them about some of the programing that's going on.

You know, you can you can be a tourist who's coming through and a visitor to Canada, and you can stop in there and you can buy, gifts and crafts and you can taste local wine.

But, Laura, I want you to talk about what you're doing specifically with kids who are interested in food and who maybe have never visited a lake, because that, to me, was just the best part of the story.

Yeah.

First, thank you, first of all, for having me.

This is a great opportunity to share about our Junior Chef program.

Which I can't stop talking about recently.

So as an education team, really our focus and our goal is to create diverse, equitable and inclusive spaces.

And we do this in several ways.

But, you know, today we're focused specifically on Junior Chef.

So I'll try to stay focused.

But this program really is about skill building.

It's a culinary program for teens focused really on engaging our local teams in a safe learning environment, that really supports their curiosity and, you know, really teaches important life skills like teamwork and ultimately cooking for themselves, which is very important.

The goal is to provide hands on experiences that connect students to food and their communities.

LOL.

Addressing the inequity of access to high quality out-of-school time programing in upstate New York and the Finger Lakes.

And I was reminded of this yet again.

I attended my daughter's, you know, graduation and this past, these past few weeks, pulling all her memories together and seeing all the opportunities as a suburban student of Rochester, you know, that she's had access to.

It's so important that we provide access to all of these afterschool field trips and during school opportunities for local students.

There's really this another huge part of this program is that our students learn about culinary and hospitality as a potential career path.

And about Fox's amazing culinary program, which happens in our building.

They hold their culinary labs in our hands on kitchen Monday through Wednesday, Wednesdays during the school year.

So it's so wonderful when our junior chefs are on site and they can walk past our hands on kitchen and see, you know, college culinary students at work.

And they may actually see themselves in those students.

So yeah, so that's a little bit about our big program there and Lord's.

It's just the nature of the show.

Time has gotten away from us.

So in our last 30s, for people who haven't been back to if they haven't been there since it was the New York Wine and Culinary Center, it's been a while.

What's one thing they can come and do their oh well, one of so many things.

They can come and have a lovely beverage from the Finger Lakes, sitting on our beautiful terrace outside on a gorgeous summer afternoon.

And watch the world go by.

It's a great way to start and sounds great.

I've taken great class.

I took a really good knife skills class there over the years.

With a guy who I'm often confused with Adam Todak for some reason who should never be allowed to hold a knife.

Okay, and this is a terrible job, but I actually learned if there's one place I could teach him, it was New York Kitchen.

And I just want to say I love the idea of gateway to the Finger Lakes.

It really is.

And Leah, as you probably know, like a lot of wine regions around the world, they have these kinds of centers.

It's taken a while to find the footing.

And, but they've got really, really remarkable people involved now.

And the kind of programs that you wrote about here and what Laura was talking about, really cool stuff and a solid visit overseas.

It's an important place.

It's very important, yeah, for the region.

Laura, congrats to you and the team for all the success.

We'll see you down there the summer.

Thanks so much for you here.

Laura Downey, director of food and beverage education programs at New York Kitchen.

Leah's piece is gateway to the Finger Lakes.

We just scratched the surface.

I know I'm always I want to go make a road trip.

I got to do it.

I got people sending me their favorite waterfalls.

I mean, like, I've got all kinds of stuff coming in here.

Great.

So to email us too, it's a great day for you to wherever you are, to enjoy being outside and appreciating being in this awesome place.

Thank you.

Leah Stacy, editor of.

I was going to say Finger Lakes Magazine.

I mean, this month, it kind of is, but that's also another thing.

So don't get a suit.

Oh, yeah.

That is.

Yeah.

No, it's just City Magazine and it's great.

Patrick Berto, thank you very much.

Thank you.

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