10 Things to Do This Winter
By Mike Costanza
1 — Tinker Nature Park/Hanson Nature Center
Located south of Rochester in Henrietta, the Tinker Nature Park offers 68 wooded acres, a 1.2-mile walking and exercise trail and a half-mile nature trail. After you’re through getting the blood pumping, you can step into the Hansen Nature Center to warm up, check out the wildlife displays and have hot chocolate. When there’s enough snow, the facility offers snowshoes and cross-country skis for rent. The park is ADA compliant.
If local histories are more to your liking, you can schedule a tour of the Tinker Homestead and Farm Museum. Completed in 1830, the cobblestone house was home to the Tinker family for six generations.
Tinker Nature Park is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to dusk and the Hansen Nature Center is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission to both is free. To schedule a tour of the Tinker Homestead and Farm Museum, call 585-359-7044.
1525 Calkins Road, Pittsford
www.henrietta.org/community/page/tinker-nature-park
2 — MuCCC Theater
Ready for a good show? The MuCCC Theater has offered audiences a wide range of theatrical performances since it opened in 2009, including comedies, dramas, Shakespeare’s plays and works by Irish and African-American playwrights. Located in a converted church in Rochester’s Neighborhood of the Arts, the 80-seat theater has an intimate feel that’s just right for avoiding the winter’s chill for an entertaining evening.
142 Atlantic Ave., Rochester
3 — Monroe County Parks
Layer up, don your boots and head to one of Monroe County’s 21 parks for the day. The parks offer miles of well-marked trails for hiking, skiing and snowshoeing and are full of wildlife. While the 82-acre Tryon Park is close enough to Rochester that you can hear highway traffic, a walk through the 2,500-acre Mendon Ponds Park can take you far from the stresses of urban living. In addition to ponds, woodlands and wetlands, the park also features pickleball courts, sledding in designated areas and the Wild Wings, Inc. Bird of Prey Facility and Nature Center. Wild Wings houses permanently injured raptors who can’t live in the wild and partners with them to teach about environmental stewardship. The center is open year-round every day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., except Wednesdays and Thursdays. Visitors can view the birds all year round for free, but donations are welcome. Just the sight of the center’s eagle is worth the trip.
4 — Comedy @ The Carlson
Need a good laugh? Head to Comedy @ The Carlson. Located in the historic Stromberg-Carlson building, the club has hosted top local acts and A-list comedians. Sky Sands, the Brighton resident who has performed all over the country, recently put in an appearance there. The club boasts a 325-seat showroom and an atrium bar and offers burgers, pizza, wraps and stuff to nosh on. Laughter boosts your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart and lungs, soothes tension and gives you a good, relaxed feeling. Just the thing to dispel the gloom of a Rochester winter.
50 Carlson Road
585-426-6339
5 — The Little Theatre
Since The Little Theatre opened its doors 95 years ago, it has grown to become one of Rochester’s cultural gems. Step through its doors and you can enjoy high-quality, entertaining and thought-provoking American, independent and foreign films in five theaters. In celebration of its 95th anniversary, the theater launched 95 Years of the Little, a yearlong series that presents one top film from each decade of its existence per month. Music lovers can stop in The Little’s café to enjoy a drink or a meal and listen to live jazz, blues, folk tunes and even jug band music.
240 East Ave., Rochester
6 — Contra and English Country Dances
Each week, Country Dancers of Rochester, Inc. (CDR) sponsors social dancing in the contra and English country styles to live music at sites in Rochester. All dances are taught by callers who instruct the dancers in the steps to use and newcomers are welcome. Experienced dancers are on hand to help and lessons in the different dance steps are available for beginners who arrive 20 minutes early. You don’t have to bring a partner, but by the time the music stops, you will have danced with multiple partners. Dress comfortably and wear soft-soled, low-heeled shoes. The admission fee is on a sliding scale and all events are alcohol and smoke-free.
Contra dances are held on Thursdays at 7 p.m. at the Rose Room, 295 Gregory St., Rochester. English country dances take place on Sundays at 6:30 p.m. during daylight saving time and 2:30 p.m. during Eastern Standard Time at the First Baptist Church of Rochester, 175 Allens Creek Road, Brighton. CDR’s website shows examples of both styles of dancing.
7 — Lamberton Conservatory
When temperatures drop, you can head to the Lamberton Conservatory to warm up and enjoy the sight, smell and ambience of growing things while the rest of the area shivers. The Highland Park facility boasts orchids and other exotics, plants that are at home in the tropics or the desert, house plants, a seasonal display and a koi pond. Bring the family, and let the kids frolic in the park before coming in to warm up. The conservatory is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day of the year but Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Kids 5 years old and younger can visit for free and everyone else pays no more than $3 to get in.
180 Reservoir Ave., Rochester
www.monroecounty.gov/parks-conservatory
8 — A Day at the Museum(s)
The Strong National Museum of Play offers such features as the National Toy Hall of Fame, the International Center for the History of Electronic Games and the Ralph Wilson Skyline Climb just a stone’s throw from downtown.
You can observe the exhibits, physically interact with them or join the colorful inhabitants of the Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden.
A short distance up East Avenue, the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC) waits to engage your curiosity. The facility’s newest permanent exhibition, “Hodinöšyö:nih Continuity, Innovation, and Resilience,” will allow visitors to immerse themselves in the rich culture and history of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. You can also learn about the heavens at the Strasenberg Planetarium or the outdoors at the Cummings Nature Center, which is south of Rochester in Naples. Right now, admission to all parts of the RMSC is free from noon to 5 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month.
Farther up East Avenue, the George Eastman Museum honors the life and work of George Eastman, the legendary pioneer of photography. Visitors can explore Eastman’s beautiful home, view motion picture and still cameras, photographs and other parts of its vast collection and watch films in the 500-seat Dryden Theatre.
9 — Warm Up or Chill Out
The Rochester area offers libations for every temperature. You can warm up with hard liquor, cool down with wine and let a lager’s bubbles tickle your nose. For a comprehensive list of the area’s distilleries, wineries and breweries, visit this website:
www.visitrochester.com/blog/post/50-things-to-do-this-winter
10 — When the Team Spirit Moves You
When the winter wind howls, head out to cheer your favorite sports team. The Rochester Americans hockey team and the Rochester Knighthawks lacrosse team have games scheduled through the winter. Local college’s sports teams are also competing for points and audiences. For information on the two main teams, go to: