WEEKEND GUIDE: Fashion Week, Fall Festival, and tour of Rochester Subway
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.
Fashion Week of Rochester (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday)
The 13th annual Fashion Week of Rochester kicked off on Thursday and runs through Saturday at The Dome Arena in Henrietta.
The three nights will highlight designers, retailers, and talent in Rochester and nationwide. Fashion Week serves as a fundraiser for The Center for Youth which helps to address youth homelessness.
The theme on Friday night is celebrating what makes Rochester one-of-a-kind by highlighting the area’s culture and diversity. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. The theme on Saturday is elevate. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts to 8 p.m.
Rochester Fall Fest (Saturday)
The Rochester Fall Fest is taking place at Parcel 5 on Saturday featuring free family-friendly games and inflatables. It runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The festival will include the popular Little Kids and Big Rigs, where kids can explore police cars, fire trucks, SWAT vehicles, an ambulance, dump trucks, garbage trucks, construction equipment, and more. The City of Rochester, MVP Health Care, and Downtown Definitely are presenting the festival.
Tour of Rochester Subway (Saturday)
The Genesee River Alliance and the City of Rochester are holding a tour on Saturday to explore the historic Rochester Subway and Erie Canal Aqueduct.
Participants can expect to learn about the history of Rochester and about the ongoing Aqueduct Reimagined project. You can also see street art, the canal bed, and the Johnson Seymour mill race where the water runs under the Rundel Library. Registration for the tour is required. You can register here.
Participants will gather at the Kusler-Cox Auditorium on the third floor of the Rundel Library on South Avenue. Check-in time runs from 10:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. The tours will begin by 10:50 a.m. and go in three groups.
The ten-mile long subway through Rochester started running in the 1920s through the World War II era before it had it’s final run in 1956, according the Rochestersubway.com. While many parts of the subway have been developed, other parts have become havens for street art.
RMSC partial solar eclipse viewing event (Saturday)
The Rochester Museum and Science Center is holding a viewing event for the partial solar eclipse on Saturday.
The partial eclipse begins around noon in the Rochester area, reaches its peak at 1:13 p.m., and ends at 2:27 p.m. It will be a small taste of the total solar eclipse that will happen over Rochester’s skies on April 8, 2024.
The event at RMSC runs from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Since it isn’t safe to look at an eclipse directly, experts will have access to telescopes with solar filters. You can buy eclipse glasses for $2.50 a pair.
There will be a live stream of the eclipse at the Planetarium & Bausch Auditorium for free. In addition, there will be an “Eclipse 2024!” planetarium show to prepare for next year’s total solar eclipse. Those shows take place at 9:45 a.m., 10:30 a.m., and 11:15 a.m. and admission is required. You can get tickets here. There will also be a giant inflatable sun and a to-scale Earth and moon at RMSC to demonstrate the science of an eclipse.
Syracuse women’s basketball clinic (Sunday)
The Syracuse University women’s basketball team is hosting a clinic on Sunday at the DICK’S House of Sport at the Eastview Mall in Victor. It runs from noon to 2 p.m.
A girls clinic starts at noon followed by a special meet and greet at 1 p.m. You can register for the event here. The one-hour skills clinic, which begins at noon is open for girls ages 8-15. It will feature instruction from select members of the women’s program, including Alexis McNabb, Kyra Wood, Dominique Camp, Kennedi Perkins, Cheyenne McEvans, Alyssa Latham, Alaina Rice.
It will also feature Rochester natives Dyaisha Fair and Saniaa Wilson. The meet and greet with players is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. and is open to everyone.