The first City of Rochester Roc Holiday Village presented by Five Star Bank wrapped up 11 days of holiday magic yesterday with a merry Santa send-off.
More than 120,000 people of all ages visited Roc Holiday Village in the heart of downtown Rochester at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Memorial Park.
“It simply exceeded our expectations and we could not be happier,” said Jenna Knauf, co-founder and producer of Roc Holiday Village along with Sean McCarthy and Kelli Marsh.
“On behalf of all of us who had a dream to bring a new tradition back to the heart of our city, we thank everyone who came out to eat, shop, skate, see Santa and enjoy this new holiday tradition. We are so proud and blessed to be able to bring this event to Rochester and build a place where people could gather, be together and experience the joy of the holidays. We are grateful to all our sponsors for believing in us and helping to make our first Roc Holiday Village a great success! Stay tuned for information over the next few months on our plans for next year.”
The City of Rochester Roc Holiday Village Presented by Five Star Bank highlights included:
- A shopping village featured 20 local food and merchandise vendors who did brisk business
- 2 mini market days presented goods for sale from 32 local vendors
- Free ice skating and rentals sponsored by Wegmans
- Santa’s Workshop sponsored by IAC Kids and the Anthony Butera Team featured an expensive model train display, section of the Midtown Monorail, visits and photos with Santa, milk and cookies compliments of Wegmans, and kazoos sold to benefit Camp Good Days and Special Times.
- Free crafts for kids held every weekend in the Rochester Regional Health Gingerbread House
- Hanukkah and Kwanzaa celebrations
- Ice skating performances, curling demos, and a sled hockey demonstration
- Free live music in The Lodge Bar and Restaurant
- Breakfast with Santa presented by MVP Health sold out before the event began
- Popular cozy winter Igloos that could be reserved by the hour with private food and beverage service sold out in less than 24 hours
- Four pop-up restaurants in The Lodge – Avvino, Antonetta’s, Native and Marty’s Meats did brisk business
- With the help of Five Star Bank employees, gifts were collected at eight bank locations for needy children. The almost 600 gifts were presented to families on Saturday, December 22 by the Roc Royal Foundation in the Rochester Regional Health Gingerbread House.
