A mother's day weekend tradition in Rochester NY is the annual Lilac Festival held in Highland Park. Every year the festival coincides with the day we celebrate those who gave us life with freshly bloomed lilacs! They are in peak for about two weeks, which is how long the festival lasts, and the whole of Highland park is awash with the pastel colors of the different kinds of lilacs. The closer you get to the street of vendors, the more the floral scent mixes with the smells of kettle corn, fried Oreos and funnel cakes (and other goodies), hot dogs, and fresh fudge. It's oddly appealing. Meanwhile live music drifts through the air from the stage, lifting your spirits and making you want to dance among the lilacs!
Typically the park would be abuzz with families, couples, and friends all enjoying the blooms, food, music, lilac goodies for purchase (including the plants, perfumes, lotions, t-shirts, etc), ends with a 5k and a 10k and the arts and crafts vendors. This is my favorite part of the fest, besides the flowers of course. I am an artist myself and love seeing what other people create. But due to CoronaVirus, the Lilac Festival is just another bullet point on a long list of cancelled events.
This year's unprecedented weather, including snow in mid may, has caused the lilacs to bloom late anyhow, which means they may be blooming by the time NY can reopen again. While I'm hoping we will all still be distancing to some point, and that the park isn't crowded after getting the green-light to get out of our houses, I think it's a nice breath of hope after we've all been holding our breath for so long. To see a Rochester tradition, to see our lilacs blooming and thriving despite everything going on, especially on such a large scale. It's just going to be more beautiful than normal I think.
Starting officially in 1908, after thousands flocked to the park ten years earlier just to view the flowers, the Lilac Festival has been a source of pride for Rochesterians for over 100 years. Highland Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmstead (the designer of New York City's Central Park), now holds 500 varieties of the flower and more than 1,200 bushes, covering 22 of its total 155 acres. The festival is the both the largest and longest running event of its kind in the Greater Rochester area and can also proudly claim that it is on a short list of festivals in the country that is almost entirely free, with the exception of just a few activities/attractions.
Hopefully next May some of you will opt to come check out Rochester's most beautiful festival, eat a funnel cake, try a Garbage Plate (a Rochester tradition), and see what all of the hubbub is about!!
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