What if the most radical way to commemorate a war โฆ was peace? As the United States gears up for its 250th anniversary in July, the usual pageantry is already taking shape: fireworks, reenactments and the familiar theater of patriotic memory. But a few miles east of Rochester, atย Ganondagan State Historic Site, the celebration will […]
Culture
Why we fixate on โ and fetishize โ chefs behind the line
Thereโs a reason chefs donโt translate cleanly into daylight. They belong to the hours when the rest of the world is loosening its grip. When people are drinking, touching, confessing, unraveling. While everyone else is reaching for pleasure, chefs are manufacturing it. While the room fills, they disappear. That inversion matters. Tension lives there. Food […]
ROCHESTER TEN | MIDGE THOMAS
Read last year’s profile on the philanthropist and community champion, who died Thursday at age 99.
Three new indoor playgrounds feature inclusion, community and caffeine ย
Kristi Phillips and Richelle Acker were in a familiar stage of adult sisterhood: Phillips was a new mom stressed about going back to work. Acker was completely burnt out from her corporate job. They were living separate lives in cities far apart, missing each other and feeling isolated. Then last year, on a trip home […]
After 12 years, Rochester Brainery has a new owner
As Rochester Brainery founder Danielle Raymo contemplated ending her decade-plus tenure with the business, she wanted to go out the right way. She didnโt want to just close down, leaving the teachers of so many experiential classes without that revenue stream or unique marketing opportunity. She also didnโt want to hand it over to someone […]
Ridge Donut Cafe works to rise above the complexities baked into running a donut shop
A line forms outside Ridge Donut Cafe each morning well before the sun makes its daily appearance. The demand for donuts remains strong, and the longstanding donut shop is only one of two (the other being Donuts Delite on Culver Road) in the area still making them by hand โthe old fashioned way,โ without automated […]
Rochester native taps upstate New York’s mystery and magic in debut novel
Sparrow Hall is a diehard New Yorker โ and, unlike many who adopt that moniker, he has made a life out of embracing the state in its entirety. Heโs run a microblog touting hidden gems such as the stretch of Route 5 between Amsterdam and Little Falls, soft launched his debut novel by personally transporting […]
Estate sales provide memory and an ephemeral sense of home
Something all-consuming happens when you walk into someoneโs house for the first time; quick evaluations that steer what path youโll take through the house. Is there a pile of shoes by the door, encouraging you to take yours off? Laughter, cooking smells and loud music flowing from the kitchen? These tiny details come together, even […]
George Eastman Museum to honor Rita Moreno
An awards ceremony and gala for the “West Side Story” actress will take place in October.
ROCHESTER TEN
Meet the people in your neighborhood โ CITY’s 2025 cohort of helpers.
Flotsam River Circus drifts into Rochester
A buoyant spectacle will float through town on the Erie Canal this weekend.






