Summertime is the best time for car cruises, meetups, and shows. Check out our list of area auto events. Details are subject to change, so check online or call the venue for the most recent information and to learn more about each event. Take photos and tag (585) on socials for a chance to be featured on our Facebook and Instagram stories. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of car events in and around the (585).

WEEKLY: 

MONDAYS 

The Dakota 

913 Roosevelt Hwy, Hilton 

4–8 p.m. 

thedakotahilton.com 

Minnehans 

5601 Big Tree Rd., Lakeville 

5–8 p.m. 

minnehansgokart.com 

My Kinda Place 

7100 Buffalo Rd., Churchville 

5 p.m. 

299-7083

TUESDAYS 

Casual Car Club–Panorama Plaza 

1601 Penfield Rd., Penfield (Near What’s ‘ur Scoop Ice Cream)

5–7 p.m. 

Irish Mafia Brewing 

2971 Whalen Rd., Bloomfield 

5–7 p.m. 

irishmafiabrewing.com 

No BS Brew Company 

3474 Bronson Hill Rd., Livonia 

5–8 p.m. 

bsbrewcompany.com

Tom Wahls 

671 Maiden Ln, Greece 

4–8 p.m.

WEDNESDAYS 

Rush Creekside Inn 

6071 E. Henrietta Rd., Rush 

4–8 p.m. 

rushcreeksideinn.com 

Log Cabin 

2445 W. Walworth Rd., Macedon 

3:30 p.m.–dark 

logcabinny.com/cruze-night 

Hamlin Cruise-in 

Mark’s Pizzeria 

420 Clarkson Hamlin Townline Rd., Hamlin 

5 p.m.–dusk 

I-Square 

400 Bakers Pk., Irondequoit 

5–8 p.m. 

507-1123 

Avon Sons of the American Legion Squadron 294 

5480 Avon - E. Avon Rd., Avon 

5–8 p.m. 

738- 4642 

[email protected]

The Grove 

1848 1848 Kendall Rd., Kendall 

4-9 p.m. 

orleanscountytourism.com/events/ cruise-in-wednesdays-at-the-grove-184

THURSDAYS 

Baytowne Plaza 

1900 Empire Blvd., Webster 

5–7:30 p.m. 

baytownewine.com 

Charcoal Corral & Silver Lake Twin Drive In 

7037 Chapman Ave., Perry 

6:30-8:30 p.m. 

Super Cruises: July 17, Aug 21; 11 a.m.–4 p.m. 

charcoalcorral.com/a/cruise-night 

Back Porch 585 

3739 Monroe-Orleans County Line Rd., Brockport 

4–7 p.m. 

backporch585.com 

Canandaigua Wegmans 

345 Eastern Blvd. (RTs 5 & 20), Canandaigua 

5–8 p.m.

FRIDAYS 

Damascus Shriners Cruz Night 

979 Bay Rd., Webster 

5–8 p.m. 

671-7701

Rochester Area Classic Events Car Club Cruise 

Schaller’s 

965 Edgemere Dr. 

5–8 p.m. 

Cruisin’-in Medina 

July 11, 18; Aug 1, 8, 15, 22 

615 West Ave., Medina (at the Senior Citizens bldg.) 

5:30–8 p.m. 

SATURDAYS 

Stones Pub Car & Bike Nights 

July 12, 26; Aug 9, 23 

3115 E. Henrietta Rd., Henrietta 

6–9 p.m. 

Olcott Saturday Night Car and Bike Show  

6108 Lake St., Olcott 

5–8 p.m. 

olcott-newfane.com

CAR SHOWS/ SPECIAL EVENTS 

JULY 5 

Hooked on Driving–Stars, Stripes & Speed Car Show 

10 am–4 p.m. 

Watkins Glen International

2790 County Rte. 16, Watkins Glen 

Cruisin’ in Medina Bike Night 

5:30–8 p.m. 

615 West Ave., Medina (at the Senior Citizens bldg.)

JULY 12 

5th Annual Manchester Car Show and Swap Meet 

10 a.m.–3 p.m. 

Mike Griffin Memorial Park 

7 West Ave., Manchester 

villageofmanchester.org/events 

Pirate Festival Car Show

Noon 

Krull Park 

6041 E. Main St., Olcott 

pirateautoshow.weebly.com

JULY 13 

52nd Annual Sports Car & Auto Festival 

9 a.m. 

New York Museum of Transportation 

6393 East River Rd., Rush 

mgcarclub.com/car-show-registration 

Drive for Gigi’s

9 a.m.–noon, 7 a.m. check-in at Adrian Jules. 

2937 Monroe Ave. 

gigisplayhouse.org

JULY 19 

Rochester Cars & Coffee 

8–10 a.m. 

500 Lee Rd., Bldg D., Rochester 

Also August 16 

thelittlespeedshop.com/cars-coffee

JULY 20 

3Rd. Annual Avon American Legion Family Car Show 

10 a.m.–3 p.m. 

Avon American Legion 

5480 Avon E. Avon Rd., Avon 

[email protected]

738- 4642

JULY 26 

East Bloomfield Historical Society’s Car Show & Parade 

9 a.m.–3 p.m. 

Veterans Park 

6910 Route 5 & 20, Bloomfield 

ebhs1838.org 

Fourth Annual Roc Hard Corvette Club & Classic Car Show 

11 a.m. 

Genesee Valley Park–Riverbend Shelter 

1000 E. River Rd., Rochester 

rochardvetteclub.com

Cruisin’ in Medina at the Fair 

5:30–8 p.m. 

Orleans County Fairgrounds 

12732 RT-31, Albion

JULY 27 

Greece Marching Band Car, Truck, and Bike Show 

9 a.m.–4 p.m. 

Badge Row Park 

1120 Latta Rd., Rochester 

Town of Irondequoit Classic Car Cruise In 

11 a.m.–3 p.m. 

Irondequoit Town Hall 

1280 Titus Ave. 

irondequoit.gov 

Cruise-in for a Cause Car Show 

Noon–3 p.m. 

Nunda Kiwanis Park 

24 Portage St. Nunda 

spectrumofsolutions.org

Spencerport Canal Days Car Show 

9 a.m.–3 p.m. 

American Legion post 330 691 Trimmer Rd., Spencerport 

[email protected], 352-1350

AUGUST 2 

9th Annual Perfect Pony All Mustang Car Show 

10 a.m.–3 p.m. 

Greece Ridge Mall 

271 Greece Ridge Center Dr., Greece 

Camp & Cruise 

10 a.m.–4 p.m. 

Adventure Bound Camping Resorts-Southwoods 

6749 Townline Rd., Byron 

Tombstone Run Car, Bike & Truck Show 

10 a.m.–3 p.m. 

Canandaigua Moose Lodge 

#1048 

305 Ontario St. Ext., Canandaigua 

(315)856-6020 

[email protected]

AUGUST 7 

Classic Car Show 

5–7 p.m. 

Highlands of Pittsford 

100 Hahnemann Trl., Pittsford 

RSVP required: HighlandsEvents@URMC 

rochester.edu or 641-6303

AUGUST 8 

WNY Region Cadillac-LaSalle Club 27th Annual Car Show 

11 a.m.–3 p.m. 

Valley Cadillac 

3100 South Winton Rd., Rochester 

wnycadillaclasalleclub.com

AUGUST 9 

Annual Scottsville Car Show 

9 a.m.–4 p.m. 

Johnson Park 

98 2nd St., Scottsville

AUGUST 10 

Spurr Car Show at the Brockport Arts Festival 

10 a.m.–5 p.m. 

North Main St., Brockport 

AUGUST 16 

Annual Auto Zone Car Show 

Noon–4 p.m. 

Auto Zone 

127 West Main St., Le Roy

Twelfth Annual Hilton’s Classic Wheels on Main St. 

8 a.m.–4 p.m. 

Main St., Hilton

AUGUST 17 

“Beers and Gears” Car Show 

Noon–4 p.m. 

Irish Mafia Brewing 

2971 Whalen Rd., Bloomfield 

irishmafiabrewing.com

AUGUST 23 

Hot Rods for Hospice 

11 a.m.–3 p.m. 

Alvah Halloran & Sons Funeral Home 

2125 Chili Ave., Rochester 

journeyhomegreece.org

Master Tech Automotive Car Show 

11 a.m.–3 p.m. 

Master Tech 

3952 State Route 5 and 20, Canandaigua 

mtacanandaigua.com/carshows

AUGUST 24 

Wheels on the Seneca Car, Truck, Motorcycle, and Tractor Show 

9 a.m. 

35 Lake Front Dr., Geneva 

cityofgenevany.gov

AUGUST 27; RAIN DATE SEPT. 3 

Cruisin’ in Medina- Super Cruise with Elvis 

5:50 –8 p.m. 

Main St., Medina

AUGUST 30 

Olcott Beach Car Show 

8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. 

6006-6052 E. Main St., Olcott 

olcottbeachcarshow.com

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of (585).

A monolithic brick building stands prominently in the center of a quiet, residential neighborhood in downtown Rochester, a stark contrast to the modest, two-story homes to its left and right. A large outdoor patio and two well-manicured gardens form the front edge of a wide, freshly-paved parking lot. Unlike the abutting properties, Central Park Garage cuts an imposing presence with its flat roof and sharp, angular walls that run perpendicular to the street.

Central Park Garage—which is currently undergoing widespread renovations— represents the outgrowth of more than seventy years of local history. Built in 1940, the industrial lot offers more than 8,820 square feet of interior space. While the North Marketview Heights property was originally designed to be an auto repair shop, it was later purchased by Action for a Better Community (ABC), who maintained the land until 2023, when it was sold to Rochester residents Bob Breissinger and Brian Coutu.  

Business partners Breissinger, an interior designer, and Coutu, a sales rep in the home furnishings industry, first noticed the “for sale” sign on the sprawling lot in 2023. Breissinger and Coutu—both automobile aficionados— were drawn to the site immediately, hoping to construct a showcase for their shared passion: drivable classic cars. 

Right away, Breissinger and Coutu submitted a purchase order. The next day, their offer was accepted. 

“It was bigger than what we thought we wanted,” says Breissinger, “but our collection has grown now that we have the space.” He notes that before purchasing Central Park Garage, he worked on cars exclusively in his driveway. 

As soon as the property was in their names, Breissinger and Coutu began molding Central Park Garage into an automobile museum, entertainment venue, and event facility all in one. From the outset, the goal was to host frequent social gatherings, allowing car lovers to congregate for drinks and lively conversation in a comfortable, cozy environment. 

In the 1940s and ’50s, the property— which was owned by Mike and Joe Equipment Company at the time—specialized in installing hydraulic systems for truck bodies. “That’s why we have hydraulic lines on the floor,” notes Breissinger, pointing out round metal cover plates in the concrete floor. 

“Then, in the 1960s, you could go to a dealer and buy a dump truck,” says Breissinger. “So, there was a shift in focus. From what I understand, the shop started working on school buses after that.” 

Now, more than fifty years later, Breissinger and Coutu are making remarkable inroads renovating and restoring the space. “The building was pretty rough when we bought it,” says Coutu. “We walked in here and the roof was leaking everywhere, so we had that fixed, and then we started painting. We painted the whole interior, including all of the beams. We power-washed the floors and then started working on the offices and such.” 

Breissinger and Coutu are working on the exterior of the property as well. “When we got here, the yard was all overgrown with weeds and grape vines. The asphalt parking lot had fallen into disrepair,” says Breissinger. “We are going to put out tables and make this into a fire pit,” he adds, gesturing to the patio, which sports a delicate, spindly tree rising from a symmetrical blue stone patio. Behind the patio sits a tall fence, separating the land from the home behind it. 

In addition to a classic car showcase, Central Park Garage houses a soon-to-be fully equipped kitchen, multiple administrative spaces, a restored service bay modeled after Packard (painted its signature shade of green), and a library specializing in magazines and books about drivable classic automobiles.

A key feature is the garage’s lounge area, complete with windows on both sides of the bar, allowing visitors to sit on stools and look out at the cars. “It’s a party place,” says Breissenger, chuckling. “We are going to have an event for the Western New York Packard Club. There are also a bunch of Studebaker owners [we want to host], and we’d like to have a party for the Landmark Society. We want to have one for our friends too,” says Breissenger. 

Breissenger and Coutu are well-versed in community gatherings. In fact, it was through these connections that they began building their car collection. “As you come across different cars, you’re introduced to different people,” says Coutu. “As you go to more shows, the base of friends you have in the industry grows.” 

And grow it has. Central Park Garage currently features seventeen classic cars, the majority of which can be driven. “We try to have every one of our cars running,” Coutu states. “With the exception of [two cars], all are in the process of having work done so they can be on the road.” 

Central Park Garage is already establishing itself as an asset within the region, promoting philanthropy along the way. “We go to a car hop every Friday night that benefits Shriners [Children’s Hospital], says Coutu. “In addition, the Landmark Society puts on a fundraiser called Cocktails and Carburetors. With this event, they invite private garages to be part of an expansive tour.” In 2023, when Central Park Garage was a participant, the organization raised more than $25,000. Over the years, Cocktails and Carburetors has raised more than $130,000 for the Landmark Society. “It’s nice to see so many people come out and be enthusiastic about the garage. In conjunction with the Landmark Society, we are doing a good deed by helping generate funds,” adds Coutu.

While neither Coutu nor Breissinger pursued careers in the automobile industry, both men were drawn to cars early on. “I had a ’66 Cadillac, then I bought a ’64 Cadillac and [my collection] just kind of grew. I was renting garages all over Rochester,” shares Breissinger. “There’s a ‘62 Cadillac Coupe DeVille out there [in the garage] that I’ve had since I was in my early twenties.”

Coutu nods, joining in. “My dad worked for Oldsmobile for most of my life,” he says. “So, two of the cars I collected are Oldsmobiles from 1950—a Club Sedan and a ‘65 Dynamic 88. So, I kind of bought those to remember him by. [At Central Park Garage], we have an eclectic blend of cars dating back to 1940.” 

“If your oldest car is from 1940, how old is your newest?” I ask, curious.

“Well,” says Breissinger, “I would say the most recent vehicle is the 2006 Saturn Sky Roadster, which is considered a collectible, because the company is no longer making cars.” 

“We mostly like cars from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s—drivable classics,” he adds. “If you go too far back, it’s harder to drive them as they’ll only go forty miles per hour. Some people collect brands like Packard or Lincoln or Mustang. In Rochester, Corvettes and muscle cars are very popular.” 

He looks out across the wide expanse of the garage, inspecting the immaculate vehicle exteriors, all fully polished, buffed, and scrubbed. “Every city has its own car culture going on,” says Breissinger with a grin.

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of (585).

There is a distinct noise and scent of an auto repair shop that anyone can recognize—the rhythmic swirls and drills of impact wrenches, the popping of tire changers, the smell of oil and sometimes gasoline. 

There was a day when one could expect to see only men under the cars and among the Rotary lifts and toolboxes of a garage. But, in the ever-changing automotive climate, women are choosing the profession more often. 

Corrin Lawson, twenty-three, of Greece, is one of those women. 

“I didn’t know what to do after high school,” she says. “I went into the trades.” 

Lawson, who is used to moving around and being on her feet, knew she didn’t want a desk job. “When I was little, I would volunteer on a farm,” she recalls. 

Lawson has always found peace in hands-on work. 

“I like doing things with my hands. It feels like a workout,” she says. “I could not do an office job.” 

As a teenager on summer break, she would visit her grandfather in Stonington, Maine, a small town on Deer Isle that sits along the Atlantic Coast. The pair would go lobstering. They’d set lobster traps and then go back the next day to collect their stock of fresh lobsters.  

Now, Lawson works at West Herr Toyota of Rochester as an automotive technician. A 2024 graduate of Monroe Community College’s automotive program, Lawson was an apprentice technician in the school’s Automotive Toyota T-TEN program, where she was the only woman in her class. 

“When I first started the class, it was hard to talk to people because I didn’t know what their reaction would be. I felt bad for the person who got paired up with me,” Lawson says. 

Now, she is one of two women working in the shop at Toyota of Rochester. Does she feel out of place? No. In fact, she says she fits right in just like one of the guys. She’s even been helping train a new female technician. 

“I love the guys I work with,” she says. “They’re like my brothers. I get along with them.” She adds, “I think they treat me better than the other guys.” 

Teresa Naus of Irondequoit remembers a day when women weren’t always accepted in the field—mostly by customers. Naus started her career in the automotive industry in 1997 doing clerical-type work in the body shop of Cortese Ford. She later went to work as a service advisor at Churchville Ford, which was then part of the Rochester Auto Collection. 

It was in this role that she admits it was a struggle as a woman, especially when working with older customers. 

“Older women wouldn’t want to talk to me at all. That was a huge struggle,” she says. Older men seemed to get a kick out of a gal behind the desk, but they would question her knowledge as if to test her. 

In 2001 Naus moved to Vanderstyne Toyota in Greece and remained there until 2019. It was there where she seemed to have the most impact on customers. As a service advisor, over time she seemed to earn the trust of her customers. She saw firsthand the shift in the way women were viewed in the automotive field. 

“It went from ‘I don’t want to work with her’ from the older, more hesitant women to no one thinking anything of it,” Naus says. While some of that can be attributed to women becoming more accepted in the field, a lot of it is also because customers learned they could trust her as they worked with her during her eighteen-year tenure at the dealership. 

“I was able to help more people,” she says. “You get to know them on a different level when you’re helping them.” She recalls watching their kids grow up, then eventually buying their own cars and, before she knew it, the whole family was coming to her for service. 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of women working in the automotive repair profession has grown from 1.4% in 1999 to about 9% in 2024. 

Back in the early 2000s, Vanderstyne Toyota employed a female technician. Naus recalls that “people definitely did not want her to work on their cars.” 

Eventually, women grew to trust and appreciate her presence at the service desk. 

As Kyla Paradiso, twenty-four, of Greece can attest, things have definitely changed. 

Paradiso, like Lawson, graduated from MCC’s T-TEN program just a few years before Lawson. Paradiso was an automotive technician at Dorschel Toyota before moving to the West Herr Automotive Group, where she is now a service advisor at Toyota of Rochester. 

Today, instead of women being turned off by the idea of working with a female service advisor, they now seem to appreciate it. 

“[I have] women who say it’s nice having a woman,” Lawson says. “It’s definitely a comfort thing.” 

Paradiso nods to Lawson and says, “I make sure customers know there’s a woman working on their cars.” 

Paradiso has always loved cars. In high school, though, she considered joining the United States Army instead of going to college. 

“My mom told me she didn’t want me to put my life in danger,” she recalls. 

She was drawn to the profession after taking auto shop classes at Irondequoit High School. Her shop teacher put her in touch with the gentleman at MCC who runs the T-TEN program.

Although the climate has shifted and women are more appreciated in the field, Paradiso does hear some negative comments from time to time, including things like “You’re too pretty” or the occasional customer looking to speak to “one of the guys” to which Paradiso reminds them that she is one of the guys. She doesn’t let these comments deter her, though. Her focus is always on the customer.

She said she takes a softer approach with customers, which is often appreciated. She helps them prioritize repairs based on the immediate needs of their vehicles. 

Would she change her field? Absolutely not. 

“I just love the automotive industry,” Paradiso says, “because it got me into what I love, which is cars.”

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of (585).

You’ve seen the classic cars on the road—those that were exceptionally restored back to their former glory. Maybe you’ve attended a car show or two over the years and seen them up close and personal: the 1950s Bel-Airs, the 1920s Model Ts, the muscle cars of the sixties and seventies. They are hard to miss. The hours of love and thousands of dollars that go into rebuilding and restoring these vehicles are countless, but to those who have done it, it’s a badge of honor. 

Roní McHugh of Rochester is one of those people. She’s poured her heart and soul into her labor of love. McHugh finds an immense amount of pleasure in restoring classic cars. In fact, one could say it’s simply in her blood. 

Last year, McHugh and her husband, John, finished restoring a 1968 Plymouth Barracuda notchback that she bought in 2017. The car is unique in its own right, not only because it’s a classic, but because of its distinct features that McHugh herself chose. 

First, it has a custom center console with a cup holder large enough to fit her coffee. And although the car is a ’68, she borrowed style from future Plymouth years when she chose the sublime green color from the 1970 model line. Car enthusiasts may also remember the floral mod top and matching seats from the 1969 Plymouth Barracuda. You guessed it—although her car is a 1968, McHugh has a custom floral design on her ’Cuda’s top and seats that she says is a nod to the 1969 mod top. 

“This car was not meant to be a mod top,” she says. “It was actually built the year before.” 

The custom license plate on her car? FLWRPWRD for Flower Powered. The pattern becoming her signature. 

“I have put the pattern on pretty much everything,” she says, while listing off items like phones, purses, dresses, and even shoes. “Anyone who knows me knows me by the floral top.”

She even decked out her Jeep with a custom-printed floral top as well. In fact, she’s created an entire business around the print called McHugh’s Mod Tops. She creates and sells custom apparel, some of which features the floral print. 

McHugh started restoring cars when she was a little girl, with her dad. He was heavily into Mopar vehicles, and he loved the sublime green color—the same green on eye-catching Barracuda. 

“He always had sublime green cars, and I think that started my infatuation with cars and high-impact cars,” she says.

In fact, she and her husband first met when the pair were both members of a local Mopar car club more than two decades ago. They were friends at first, and John was married. They lost touch for a bit and reconnected years later and began dating. They’ve now been together about twenty years, and they don’t regret a day. 

“That’s our passion! Each other and our cars,” Roní says, and John agrees.

It took the couple about seven years to fully restore the Barracuda. They had car parts everywhere around the house, garage, and attic. Family and friends would inquire about it frequently enough that McHugh recalls: “I had a shirt made that said, ‘No my car is not done yet,’” she says with a chuckle. 

The couple is planning to take it to Columbus in August for the Mopar Nationals, an annual event at the National Trail Raceway that features a classic car show with myriad Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram vehicles on display. This year’s event will pay special tribute to the Chrysler brand, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

According to data from the Hagerty Agent, a firm that specializes in insuring classic cars, there are around 43 million collector vehicles in the United States, about sixteen percent of the total 275 million vehicles registered. The data firm reports that ninety percent of car enthusiasts plan to attend an auto event like the Mopar Nationals within the next few years. 

Of those 43 million collector vehicles, Hagerty reports that 58 percent of owners say they own them because they are fun to drive. Another 46 percent like the visual appeal or look of the cars.

The McHughs definitely agree. They find the most enjoyment in just being together with their cars. 

“Sometimes we just like to go for a ride and take the car,” she says. 

In the years they’ve been together, the duo has restored dozens of cars. Most they’ve sold after a couple of years. 

“We have fun with our cars. It’s our passion,” she says, underscoring her belief: “Drive ’em; don’t hide ’em.” 

And although McHugh has had many classic cars in her lifetime, she’s not letting go of her custom Barracuda. The car is uniquely hers. 

“You can bury me in it,” she says. “This one is staying.”

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of (585).

Despite his quintessential vocals, the Band’s Richard Manuel has often been relegated to the margins of rock history. Starting his career with the Revols in Canada in the late 1950s, he later joined Ronnie Hawkins’s band, where he was introduced to his future bandmates Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson. They eventually split from Hawkins and joined Bob Dylan after Dylan went electric in 1965, following Dylan to Woodstock a year later after Dylan was in a motorcycle accident. Residing in a house dubbed “Big Pink,” they cultivated their own unique sound. Now called The Band, they released their debut album, Music from Big Pink, in 1968, influencing Eric Clapton and the biggest band in the world at that point, the Beatles. Success and fame proved to be too much for Manuel, however, and he began a slow dive into self-destruction that eroded his confidence, culminating in him taking his own life in 1986 at the age of forty-two. 

A new biography, Richard Manuel: His Life and Music from the Hawks to Bob Dylan to the Band, written by Rochester author Stephen T. Lewis, aims to rehabilitate Manuel’s reputation and features some high-profile interviewees like Clapton and Van Morrison. Lewis first became a fan of the Band after renting The Last Waltz from a video store in his native Palmyra in the early 1990s and became especially enamored of Manuel. “Richard was such a powerhouse and had such an effect on me,” he remembers. He missed his opportunity to see a reconstituted version of the Band when they came through Rochester in 1995, but he saw Levon Helm perform several times before his passing in 2012, and he met the late Garth Hudson and his wife Maud at the Colony Cafe in Woodstock on a few occasions. “He and Maud were very kind to me,” Lewis recalls. 

After graduating from SUNY Brockport in 2007 with a degree in English, he began contributing to websites such as Ultimate Classic Rock (where he published a piece on Manuel), NYSMusic.com, and Something Else Reviews. Since 2012, he’s maintained a blog, Talk from the Rock Room (talkfromtherockroom.com), where he’s done the bulk of his music writing, and it was through that website that he was given the suggestion from a reader to write a biography of Manuel. But it was seeing Once Were Brothers, the 2019 documentary based on Robertson’s 2016 autobiography Testimony, that served as the real push-comes-to-shove moment. “That film gave me a kick because of the lack of Richard in it,” he says. “It was one of those things. I’ve talked with a couple of my other friends who were Band fans. I was like, ‘You know, something that has always bothered me is Richard’s representation in the overall view of the group and in the lexicon of music.’” 

The COVID-19 pandemic and a layoff allowed Lewis additional time to pursue the book. The first person he reached out to was John Till, who’d played with Manuel in his first band, the Revols, and later played with Janis Joplin. “The first words John said to me were, ‘I don’t have the time or inclination to write a book on Richard Manuel.” When Lewis informed Till that he would be writing the book, he relented, granting him an interview. It was Till and his wife Dorcas who introduced Lewis to Manuel’s surviving Canadian relatives, including Manuel’s sister-in-law Kathryn, who in turn introduced him to Manuel’s widow, Arlie. Subsequently, Lewis and his wife made a few trips to Manuel’s native Stratford, Ontario, where Manuel is also buried. On one occasion, Lewis was treated to a tour of Manuel’s old haunts and childhood home by the town’s historian. “It was kind of easy to feel where his influences and showmanship came from.” 

Next came connecting with Manuel’s first wife, Jane, and son Josh, who still reside in the Woodstock area, and daughter Paula, who lives in California. This required Lewis to get on social media—something he’d avoided up to that point—and, was able to reach out to Josh on Facebook. Previous attempts at Manuel biographies, including a documentary, failed to materialize, so it was also important for Lewis to gain the trust of his family. “If someone was writing a story about my father, I’d want to know who this dude is and what his intentions are,” he says. “I didn’t want the project to go unapproved by his family or [have them] think I was doing something sinister. So we connected and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m coming to Woodstock. I would love to meet you and your mom and tell you my intention.’” They loaned him photos, and he characterizes the Manuels as “the kindest, most beautiful people.”

Connecting with more famous names like Larry Campbell, a longtime sideman of Bob Dylan’s, came through Campbell’s manager, who’d worked with Albert Grossman, The Band’s manager, decades before. Lewis reached out to John Sebastian through his website. Eric Clapton came through a more peculiar way: “I’d identified some people through the liner notes of CDs,” recalls Lewis. “I found one of his management contacts and reached out. A week later, they wrote back and said that ‘Eric would love to contribute to your book.’ This is a testament to why this had to be done.” Clapton also provided a back cover blurb, and it was his management that put Lewis in touch with Van Morrison. Others proved more elusive. Lewis had been in talks with Robbie Robertson’s camp for an interview. “It was getting close, and then they said, ‘We’re going to have to put this stuff on hold because Robbie’s not feeling well.’” Robertson passed in 2023, and after the passing of Maud Hudson in 2022, Garth Hudson’s health began to decline as well, making an interview impossible. 

The initial plan was to self-publish, but that changed after he mentioned the project to Tom Kohn, owner of The Bop Shop in Brighton, who connected Lewis to his wife, Jann Nyffeler, who said to him, “You need to put a proposal together to see if somebody wants this book.” His proposal was accepted by Schiffer Publishing, a Pennsylvania-based company with an extensive catalog of music-related titles. “They do beautiful work, and they take pride in their craftsmanship.”

Lewis hopes to follow up this book with another music project. “I want something to hit me as hard as Richard’s story did,” he says. He’s forged a close friendship with Josh Manuel, and prior to his passing in January, Garth Hudson gave the book what appeared to be his blessing. For Lewis, this is a treasured validation: “Somebody visited him and said, ‘You know, there’s a guy writing a book about Richard,’ and Garth got a smile out of it. I’ll take that.”

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of (585).

Every day for Erin Crowley feels like sci-fi. “We are essentially an age zero bio bank,” she says, “looking to invest in the future of people’s health with our exosome currency.” As comanaging partner of the Crowley Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics, she describes the stem cells, grown from umbilical cords, as a skeleton key that carries the ingredients and messages to reprogram damaged cells. 

In high school, Crowley was obsessed with the Fast and the Furious movies. She wanted to go to college to design cars but ultimately enrolled as an engineering student when she was recruited to play soccer. An injury took a toll on her soccer career, grades, and mental health. Home for the summer, she took a class at RIT and met Dr. Alan Nye, assistant dean of engineering and chair advisor for a formula racing team. 

“It was loaded with labs and racing technology,” Crowley recalls. “I came home that day and told my parents, I’m switching to RIT.” After college, Crowley took a job with Toyota, starting in Vancouver. She worked as a sustainability engineer in Alabama and a quality engineer in San Antonio. 

Crowley spent her twenties outdoors and adventuring, living in ten cities in ten years. But when her grandfather died in 2012, she felt homesick for the first time and returned to Rochester. “He was a chemist, the person I talked to about everything engineering and science.”  

In 2018, Crowley’s father, Michael, acquired the license for the Sanatela Matrix. Bioengineered from 100 percent decellularized Wharton’s jelly (from the inside of an umbilical cord), the matrix is a natural in vitro cell culturing system and single treatment option platform that enables doctors to screen and test a full range of therapies to create a precision cancer treatment plan for each patient. The drug screening that is currently performed inside a patient’s body could now be done in the lab. 

Michael Crowley immediately brought his daughter Erin in to open all the manufacturing. “I was always hoping that I could work with him someday.” Crowley remembers telling her kindergarten class that her dad was an entrepreneur back when no one knew what that was. 

In March 2020, in Wuhan, China, Dr. Dongcheng Wu gave critically ill COVID-19 patients a Wharton’s Jelly stem cell IV. Within a few days, all of the participants made a full recovery, and the study has since been replicated in the United States. Crowley hired the best bone marrow transplant stem cell growers from the University of Rochester and launched a lab in Fairport with a team of industrial and biomedical engineers. 

When a healthy baby is born, there are about half a million stem cells left over in the cord, but 100 million stem cells are needed for one treatment. Crowley’s team plates them, feeds them, and grows them in the lab. “We started counting and found out we had one thousand trillion exosomes, which is over 200,000 treatments. With one umbilical cord, you could treat 200,000 people. It was just a total surprise. My dad said, ‘You’re in the exosome business now.’” 

The goal was to fight the COVID-19 virus, and Crowley’s team worked tirelessly to bring the cost down as one treatment of IV stem cells cost roughly $100,000. Ultimately, the U.S. decided to go with the vaccination, and the trials were halted, leaving Crowley with the biggest yield supply of exosomes that exist in manufacturing. 

She started selling the exosomes to regenerative medicine clinics internationally and then started working with doctors under the Right to Try law and the 21st Century Cures Act. These laws allow patients suffering from life-threatening diseases to use these experimental biologic products. 

Existing medicine targets cancer cells, but the cancer stem cells are more elusive. The matrix takes someone’s leukemia blood sample, spins it down to the cancer, and starts growing their cancer stem cells in a petri dish, making them strong out of the body, which allows doctors to determine the best dose and treatment. 

“With targeted therapy,” says Crowley, “we could reduce the number of deaths related to chemotherapy as well as start to go after the cancer stem cell.” Crowley is excited about the clinical trials starting in Ireland’s Galway University, using the University of Rochester technology.

Crowley was asked to launch a skincare brand using her exosomes. She conducted a clinical study that including the editors of Vogue and the New York Cut. It yielded incredible results, and Resiliélle was launched. The name is a combination of the Latin word for resilient and Crowley’s mother, Ellen. “Our researchers said, ‘You want us to put out this product for wrinkles?’” Crowley recalls. “Yeah, absolutely wrinkles. That’s gonna pay for a lot of other things!” 

As CEO of Resiliélle Cosmetics, Crowley has grown a huge national sales team and has distributors in Pakistan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey, Canada, and Azerbaijan. Already popular in Paris, Dubai, Miami, and Beverly Hills, you can find Crowley’s exosomes locally in hair restoration treatments at Vitalize Medical & Aesthetics on Monroe Avenue. Her products are available for purchase as well, to use at home topically for skin and hair. 

Compared to treating life-threatening diseases, Crowley wasn’t sure if the world of aesthetics would be fulfilling. But hearing women tell her they now feel comfortable in their skin is a big reward. She says, “So much of these aesthetics isn’t about vanity for the sake of vanity; it’s a real sense of your identity.” 

A Harvard report recently revealed that many companies are producing and selling inactive exosomes. Crowley won’t let that destroy what her team has built, saying “Consumers deserve to understand what’s in their product, and if it’s bioactive. They’re spending up to $2,000, and there’s nothing in them.” She has created an oversight bureau and travels the world speaking out against fraud in the industry. 

Mother to two young children, Crowley sees a bright future ahead. She predicts we will have access to a daily preventative nasal spray and that these nonaddictive, nontoxic exosomes will also replace opioids for pain management and inflammation. 

Crowley donates her product to countries like Lebanon, where children have extensive burns and wounds from air strikes. Locally, she is looking to collaborate with more partners and looks forward to using the surplus of exosomes to fund medical trials and give back to the community. She hopes doctors will come to her if they have a problem they’ve never been able to solve.

Just as the internet changed life as we know it, Crowley believes that biologics are going to change the entire world in terms of how medicine is practiced. She says, “I think it’s pretty awesome to be living in an era where biologic medicine is going to totally change the future of how we can let our bodies repair themselves like never before.”

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of (585).

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of (585).

If you know you know: Danny Deutsch—the longtime music promoter with Energizer Bunny moves. Abilene Bar & Lounge—a musical Mecca housed in a narrow nineteenth-century house in downtown Rochester, the one with the bold Ukrainian flag. 

On a Friday night visit to Abilene, the flag flaps slowly in the breeze (Deutsch raised it the day the war started), and the front door is wide open. At 4 p.m. the bar is filling up with Abilene’s regulars waiting for the Occasional Saints, a New Orleans–flavored blues and swing band. Soon Tracy Mykins works the door as more OS fans arrive. Behind the bar, Raven Strong, artist by day, bartender by night, serves up beer, cocktails, whiskey neat, or THC seltzer to people of all ages and walks of life. Danny Deutsch is expected sometime soon. He’s never far away from his beloved bar. 

Deutsch’s love affair with music began early. He remembers “the good seats at big shows” at the then War Memorial, where his father was director. 

“I saw Jethro Tull, the Grateful Dead, the Harlem Globetrotters, and Barnum & Bailey Circus,” says Deutsch. “I was always interested in entertainment.” 

Sure, he tried college—Buffalo State and Hiram, Ohio, where he majored in English—but he was “never that focused.” When Deutsch returned to Rochester, he took a job at Record Theatre, a prominent record store chain. “I worked with some great people, real titans in the retail business.” 

He also discovered in the late 1970s that he was a natural when it came to booking live music. He helped Scorgie’s, the iconic Andrews Street venue that snagged music legends from John Lee Hooker to the Ramones for its basement stage. He promoted shows at Jazzberry’s, a 1980s nightclub. 

In 1981, Deutsch began his longest-running gig, selling ads for Freetime entertainment magazine. While he stayed for some twenty-three years, he was never far from the music scene. 

“I kept my hands in promotion,” says Deutsch. “I never married. No kids.” Those facts afforded him the time he needed to help his aging parents. “It was one of the most tremendous and time-consuming experiences, navigating assisted living for my father,” he says. “He lived to almost 91.” 

In 2007, when Tara, a gay nightclub at 153 Liberty Pole Way, closed, he jumped at the chance to create his very own “dive bar.” The historic building, erected in the 1850s, had been part of the then Flour City milling industry and a rumored nineteenth-century brothel. 

He worked to ensure Abilene would be welcomed by his neighbors on Liberty Pole Way. “Midge Thomas, at 98, is a true force of nature,” says Deutsch, who charmed the philanthropist and widower of Dr. Freddie Thomas, who owned a great deal of property around his bar. A year later he opened Abilene, named after one of his favorite songs by alt-rocker Dave Alvin. (Years later, to his surprise, Alvin, in town for a gig, knocked on the door for an afternoon visit.) 

His goals for Abilene were modest: “I wanted a corner saloon with a great jukebox and a pool table.” He also wanted a bar that wouldn’t keep him up all night, so doors closed at 11 p.m.

Soon his past caught up with him. Even before he installed a stage, Deutsch invited music into a corner of his little dive bar, and the names were big. 

Within a few years, Abilene gained a national and international reputation through word of mouth and a judicious use of social media. You can find Abilene on the German website Speiskarte that describes Abilene’s lassig, i.e., casual vibe, and its Getränke, aka drink menu. Most recently, Abilene hosted a rockabilly group, Lovesick, from Bologna, Italy, on an American tour. 

The roster of notables on the Abilene stage grew to include Dale Watson, Hayes Carll, the Spampinato Brothers, Jonathan Richman, J. D. McPherson, Amy Lavere, Eilen Jewell, Bill Kirchen, the Hi Risers and the Lustre Kings. On other nights, newcomers to the stage are given space to shine. 

“I’m constantly in awe of the great music locally. The wealth of home talent in the area is mind-blowing,” says Deutsch. “The local schools have great programs. City school music programs are tremendous incubators of talent, and [the students] often go on to make a living through music.” 

Eighteen years after opening, it’s not just the melodies of country, bluegrass, alt, folk, blues, zydeco, or rockabilly music that draw a loyal crowd to the “all ages venue” (under twenty-one pays a surcharge), but the atmosphere. On some nights it really feels like a place where everyone knows your name. Any physical contact seen are the copious hugs at the door and the moves on the dance floor. 

“I’ve never had a fight at the bar in [all the years] it’s been open,” Deutsch reports. 

Beyond live music, Deutsch invited Emily Morrey, historical researcher in Monroe County Library’s Local History and Genealogical Division for a “Storied Saloons—Local History Happy Hour.” The bar hosted Tara Club reunions that raised funds for Trillium Health, a center that specializes in care for the LGBTQ+ community. Every year Abilene celebrates Johnny Cash or the anniversaries of famous albums (Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger or the first four Byrds albums). On some dates, music takes a backseat to building community, perfectly illustrating the bar’s ethos. 

In March, Abilene’s Facebook page announced an open forum: “In these highly polarized and uncertain political times, a lot of us feel lost and don’t know where to turn. Some of us fear that our democracy is under attack. Some of us fear what might happen to friends, family, and members of our community who are ostracized, bullied, and threatened because of their status as citizens, their religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and lifestyle. I do think it’s high time we come together, share thoughts, and connect.” The event filled Abilene with people who wanted to discuss their fears or learn ways to get involved with area activist groups like GRIT (Greater Rochester Integrity and Truth) and Indivisible. When Deutsch wants an even bigger party, he takes “Abilene on the Road,” bringing music to nearby Temple Theater. 

Deutsch lives for the nights when Abilene is packed and other nights when there’s extra room. “It’s not the smartest business model, but it’s a labor of love,” he says, praising his “tremendous team of bartenders” who have stayed for years except “the two I lost to nursing,” he adds, laughing, or “great sound people” and “the customers that have become friends.”

“During the pandemic we had to shut down,” says Deutsch. “I got choked up to see the outpouring from my audience, my customers. Men and women would send me money, they’d Venmo, they’d write me, ‘You’ve got to survive.’” 

The evening the Occasional Saints played, Deutsch sat in a circle of friends on Abilene’s outdoor patio. “The patio is a big draw. We’re right downtown. You can see the old Sibley Building and St. Joseph’s spire. When it’s lit up, I feel like I’m in Brooklyn or Austin. I’m a huge supporter of downtown Rochester. Despite the critics, it’s incredibly vibrant: the Little, Redd, Mercantile on Main, and Eastman Theatre. There are wonderful things to do.” 

Despite the global reputation, Deutsch remains modest about Abilene; send him an email and his return signature reads “Danny Deutsch, Lowly Saloon Owner.” “There’s nowhere else I’d want to be on earth than Abilene,” Deutsch says. Lucky for him, a whole lotta people feel the same way. abilenebarandlounge.com

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of (585).