 Posted - 07/01/2002 : 15:17:35     
Letter from Rochester, June 2002.
Several ex-Rochester residents have written to me to say how much they miss Rochester and how this Web site helps them keep in touch with their home town. This series of letters from Rochester is for them.
It's strawberry season again. Do you remember Upstate New York strawberries? Do you remember the ones with raised caps that are so sweet that they taste like candy. This is a good season. The supply is plentiful, which means low prices at the farm and public markets. The best prices come from picking the berries yourself at farm markets. There's nothing quite like eating perfectly ripe strawberries from the vine when they have been warmed by the sun. The warm sweet flavor is intensely satisfying like nothing else.
Garage sales are in full swing. Ebay, has not made garage sales obsolete. Last year's electric sandwich grills, even older hot air popcorn poppers, and outgrown toys are still plentiful.
The beach at Charlotte is officially open. The volleyball teams are back. The life guard stands are in place. The life guard boats are stacked on the beach as they have for as long as anyone can remember. Starting at dusk and on through the evening, lovers take the place of the life guard on the stands. The boardwalk and the jetty are still the place to promenade, watch the sunset, and eat an Abbott's frozen custard (http://abbottscustard.com) . There's a second Abbott's on the boardwalk at the old bathhouse, but that hasn't caught on yet, so nearly everyone goes to the old Abbott’s. The old Abbott's frozen custard stand still has lines from their windows to the street even when all of the serving windows are open. The guitarist who plays songs from the 1960s still plays to a captive audience.
Several nights a week the Rochester Yacht Club has races just off shore. The jetty strollers watch the sailboats come and go at the mouth of the Genesee River.
The Lake Ontario dinner boats are running nearly full. Walkers on the jetty and the dinner boat passengers wave at each other as the boats go out and return from their cruises.
The weather has been warm and clear for several days in a row. Lake Ontario has been placid around sunset. The algae near the shore near the beginning of the jetty is beginning to smell. Walkers hold their noses or walk briskly through odor of the stench. The air is humid and hazy. The sun sets prematurely as a bright red disk into distant indistinct clouds.
The old warehouse that used to house the sand sculptures and the big band dance hall is gone. It was torn down to make way for the new ferry terminal. We used to occasionally, stop in at the ballroom and dance to a few tunes. We wonder where all of the dancers and musicians will meet now that the ballroom is gone. Like so many beach innovations over the years something old was torn down to make way for something new and none of the new things seem as enjoyable as the old things.
The LDR Char Pit is something old that still remains and it is just the same today as it was decades ago. Red hots and white hots are still as popular as ever.
As dusk, large numbers of birds twitter in the trees along the boardwalk. We imagine that they are recounting their experiences from the day to each other before going to sleep.
The smells of grilling hotdogs and chicken drift across the wooden boardwalk near the grandstand where the RPO still presents concerts to appreciative crowds.
After dark and when the concerts are over, it's mostly lovers who walk into the inky night to the end of the unlit jetty.
Fire flies are mating along the Erie Canal. In some areas, they twinkle by the thousands. We saw thousands of fire flies Along Crittenden Road where it crosses Red Creek. Many of them were flying high up into the trees. As they ascended, they blended with the twinkle of the stars in the sky.
Max Lent
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Letter from Rochester June 2002
