The Rochester Lilac Festival is celebrating 120 years. The internationally-recognized flower festival began Friday morning and the lilacs are expected to bloom throughout the duration of the festival, thanks to a forecast of generally mild weather by next week.
Officials say while the focus is still on the flowers, they want to spotlight veterans as well. This year, festival visitors will be able to purchase a small American flag and plant it to help spell out the words USA near the park’s South Avenue and Highland Avenue entrance. The money from flag purchases will go towards Honor Flight Rochester, an organization that sends veterans to see the war memorials and monuments in Washington DC.
“What we do is fly them down to Washington D.C. to tour their memorials,” said Peter Glennon, co-founder and Vice President of the group. “We can express the community’s gratitude and we can provide them the opportunity to be among their peers, to remember those good times and sometimes not so good times but they always come back about 30 years younger, rejuvenated and darn proud to be Americans.”
Visitors can purchase flags throughout the festival’s duration. At the festival’s conclusion, Honor Flight will be presented with a check of the total sum raised. That money will be used to sponsor upcoming veterans’ trips to the nation’s capital.
“We’re expecting 500,000 visitors here this week,” said Monroe County Deputy Executive Tom Van Strydonck. “That represents about $3 million in our local economy for the vendors, the restauranteurs and the hoteliers.”
The Lilac Festival is one of the most popular free festivals in America and this year, there’s a new playground made of reclaimed wood. It’s part of the festival organizers’ commitment to providing free and low-cost activities and attraction.
Rochester police say they’ll be on hand to ensure the event is without violence. They’ll have officers set up inside and outside the festival. Festival security will largely handle bag- and ID-checking but police are there to support.
“What I would encourage people to do is if you see something, say something,” said Deputy Chief La’Ron Singletary. “Come up to a police officer. If you have an issue, or see something suspicious, point it out to a police officer.”
The festival is open daily 10:30 am to 8:30 p.m. and ends May 20.