Held annually in May, Rochester's Lilac Festival is perhaps the city's best known event. Running for 10 days in the city's Highland Park, the festival attracts about 500,000 people each year, according to the City of Rochester. The main attraction at the event is the more than 200 different types of lilacs and other flowers on display, kicking off the rest of the city's festival season. Besides live performances and numerous vendors, the event also features a parade starring the Lilac Queen and a 5k and 10k run. The festival began in 1898 and has always been held in Highland Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the same man who created Manhattan's Central Park.
If you are an avid sports fan, Rochester is home to numerous professional sports clubs. In the summer, grab a hot dog and some tickets to a Rochester Red Wings game. The Red Wings, an AAA affiliate to the Minnesota Twins, play in Frontier Field, located downtown, and have been a Rochester tradition since 1899. If it's winter, catch a Rochester Americans hockey game at the Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester War Memorial. The Americans are an AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers. Tickets for both teams can be purchased via the teams' website and cost less than $20 for a good seat, as of 2010.
If you want to get out of downtown and enjoy some of the scenery around Rochester, take one of the city's walking trails. The Genesee Riverway Trail is a 16-mile track that begins in the cultural center of the city, following the Genesee River to the Erie Canal and Lake Ontario. Along the way you will see a series of waterfalls and eight different parks, including Highland Park, Seneca Park and Bausch and Lomb Riverside Park, where you can stop and rest. Once you reach the Erie Canal, you can follow the Erie Canalway Trail. During the winter, this trail is popular with cross country skiers.
