WEEKEND GUIDE: Children’s Book Festival, Pancreatic cancer walk, and comedy for a cause

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Here’s your guide to events happening this weekend in the Rochester area. You can learn more about what’s happening around town on our Community Calendar.

Rochester Children’s Book Festival (Saturday)

Children and their families can meet around 50 different authors at the Rochester Children’s Book Festival. It runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at the R. Thomas Flynn Campus Center at Monroe Community College.

The free festival, now in its 26th year, aims to celebrate literacy and learning. There will be presentations for all ages in three different rooms every half hour. In addition, authors will be signing books and there will be book-related crafts. You can see a full schedule here.

At the festival, there will be drive for new and gently used books, organized by Altrusa International of Rochester which works with librarians in city schools to provide students with books. Festival parking is free.

East Avenue Grocery Run (Saturday)

The 14th annual East Avenue Grocery Run – a 5K, 10K, and mile run to benefit Rochester-area food pantries – will take place on Saturday morning.

The 5K and 10K kick off at 8 a.m. at Third Presbyterian Church on 4 Meigs Street and the mile run kicks off five minutes later at the same location. Runner can pick up their packet at Rochester Running Co. on Thursday and Friday or on race day.

You can register to run here. Event organizers say the entire registration fee will go directly to Rochester-area organizations providing for people facing food insecurity. Third Presbyterian Church, Wegmans, and Foodlink are sponsoring the run.

Comedy to fundraise for Spina Bifida (Saturday)

The Greater Rochester Spina Bifida Association is holding is fundraising through a comedy show on Saturday featuring Ross Bennett, who has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and DryBar.

The show will take place at Crosswinds at 3360 Middle Cheshire Road in Canandaigua. The doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 6:30 p.m. The fundraiser will also include snacks, desserts, and a special guest appearance with Dan Kulp. You can get tickets here.

Cure Pancreatic Cancer Walk (Sunday)

The Pancreatic Cancer Association of Western New York is holding an indoor walk to raise funding to find a cure. The walk is from noon to 4:30 p.m. at the Gates Chili High School Field House on Spartan Way.

You can register as an individual or as a team here. The walk will be around the indoor track and it will include children’s activities, food, raffles, music, and fun all afternoon. The goal is to raise $100,000 for research initiatives.