The Park Avenue Festival in Rochester canceled for the second year in a row

Rochester, New York — The Park Avenue Festival in Rochester was canceled due to the pandemic situation for the second year in a row. Local businesses and their clientele are working to make a comeback with their own celebrations.

The DragonFly Bar and the Public House are holding their own live music performances with unique food vendors, making the best of the unusually quiet neighborhood atmosphere.

“I think we would have been ok if we did have the festival and I really miss it,” Dan Medina, who lives on Park Avenue said.

While some in the area were pleased to know Rochester is prioritizing safety measures, others were disappointed by the festival’s cancellation.

“Working at the hospital I think keeping the cases down in our community is definitely important,” Park Avenue resident Eddie Shanley said. “So, limiting social interactions and social contact especially in a big social gathering with a lot of different people coming from various places is probably a clever idea.”

The many restaurants that line the block of Park Avenue would typically benefit from thousands of dollars in revenue sales. Despite that, they decided to do make the most of the weekend.

“I could tell you that it would be packed all day,” Sinbad’s Manager Keenan Englerth said. “And today as you can see it’s not exactly like that. Unfortunate but again we understand.”

For many, the festival brings a lot to the community and is well worth the wait.

“We just go up and down both days and usually buy a couple of things a day,” Shanley said. “And you just see a ton of people doing that. So, it’s great having vendors coming in from everywhere and for the businesses along Park Ave.”

Many restaurants and bars will stay open Saturday playing live music as they continue to entertain hundreds of people that were ready for the area’s big festival.