Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go! My dad knows the way to fix the sleigh, when the radiator decides to blow, OH! When I was a kid, my favorite part of the holiday season was the road trips. We have family all over northern New York and Canada, and my parents were adamant about…
3.11.2026
’Tis the season! The holidays are stressful—wholesome, but stressful. And one of the easiest ways to break the ice with Mom’s second cousin once removed whom you last saw when you were six, is to have a great cocktail in hand. Ryan Dooling runs The Classic alongside owners Drew and Marie Nye and has been in the hospitality business for…
3.11.2026
The Long Island with warm garlic butter The shores of Lake Ontario might not be brimming with lobster, but it’s not hard to find a top-tier, fresh, juicy roll right in the (585). I like a lot of foods, but seafood is my favorite, and I don’t think that will ever change. East Coast and West Coast, I’ve had it…
3.11.2026
Pasta Bolognese The cheese tray at the brewery was built for four people, not the crowd of us circling it like vultures fifteen minutes into a two-hour panel discussion. We stood there staring at what looked like a Polly Pocket accessory, doing the math on how a roomful of thirty adults were supposed to split eleven cubes of pepper jack. …
3.11.2026
Lynne Hooker It was 1967, and Monroe County was still gun shy, especially in my neck of the woods in the northeastern corner of Chili. Just six months earlier, my friends George-Ann Formicola and Kathy Bernhard had disappeared. They remained missing for a month and were found brutally murdered. So there was an immediate shudder of horror when word came…
2.11.2026
Six mornings a week, long before the lunch line begins to form, the staff and volunteers at St. Peter’s Kitchen tie on their aprons and get to work preparing lunch for the 300-plus guests who will walk through its doors midday. Outside, the aroma drifting from the kitchen evokes Thanksgiving dinner. Inside, it’s even more inviting as team members move…
2.11.2026
Growing up in Webster, Bill Polito heard all about the town’s annual Turkey Trot, a running event held each Thanksgiving morning. In 1988, he moved to a house on Holt Road, a mile from the starting line, and decided to join in the fun. “I ran in high school and decided to give the Turkey Trot a try,” he says.…
2.11.2026
Ashley Cross is a third-generation foster parent who has devoted her life to her community, providing free programs and services to Rochester youth and families through HOPE585, a relationship-centered community where marginalized youth and their families can hope, heal, and thrive. While living in Oklahoma, Cross started the first professional foster home for young ladies preparing to age out of…
2.11.2026
You may have had pie from Special Touch Bakery without even knowing it. “When you go to Wegmans and see the pies that have the hearts on them? We help make those for them,” says Jillian Nalivyko, marketing and public relations manager at the School of the Holy Childhood. Special Touch Bakery has an integrated workforce. Its mission is “Purpose…
2.11.2026
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Retro renaissance

The words “themed hotel room” used to evoke images of afternoon affairs, bulletproof glass lobbies, and coin-operated beds. But as you may have seen on your Instagram feed, this has all changed with the emergence of vacation rentals. Themed rooms, with their heart-shaped tubs and fantasy suites (jungle rooms! ice caves!) are back in vogue. …

Revenge, redemption, and grief

Minerva Gutiérrez doesn’t suffer fools lightly. Yet every day she encounters them at the ice cream stand she works at. The customers, the coworkers, and, most of all, her boss are all constant reminders of how much she wants to leave her down-and- out town of Nautilus and begin a new life. But she is …

Immerse yourself in culture

Curls of shaved wood litter the ground, and the air is rich with the scent of steamed lumber. Evan Cree leans over a piece of ash, carefully bending and shaping it until it takes the shape he is aiming for. What started as a rough piece of wood has been transformed into a traditional lacrosse …

Book bound

Stories can embody many forms. There are those we pass down, the ones we know by heart, and those we identify through the specificity of time or place. Some we learn by ear, and others we encounter pressed between the pages of a book. For fifty years the Lift Bridge Book Shop has been all …

Pride beyond the floats

In May of 1971—more than fifty years ago—the Rochester Gay Liberation Front organized its first official gay pride event, a well-attended (300 guests) picnic in Genesee Valley Park. In the decades since, Rochester’s LGBTQIA+ pride events have grown in breadth and depth with the annual Pride Parade becoming a prominent focal point. Most cities celebrate …

Believe in WALLTHERAPY

In the beginning, it was Ian Wilson and an idea. For him it was simple, he wanted to bring the types of murals he had seen in other world-class cities to Rochester, with the intention of using that art to engage and transform the community. So, as (585) reported in 2013, he tapped into his …

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