Highland Park Conservancy

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Highland Park Conservancy

HPC is dedicated to preserving and promoting Highland Park's unique heritage and vast horticultural, educational and recreational resources.

06/07/2026

It's an exciting time to be part of Highland Park Conservancy -- join us!

06/06/2026

📰 After decades of advocacy, planning, fundraising, and perseverance, we are thrilled to share that Monroe County Executive Adam Bello announced during his June 4 State of the County address that Governor Kathy Hochul has committed New York State funding to close the remaining gap needed to construct Highland Park’s long-awaited Children’s Pavilion.

This milestone builds on years of support from Monroe County, New York State, and the Highland Park Conservancy community. The Conservancy has raised more than $1.3 million in private donations toward the project, while countless volunteers, board members, donors, community advocates, and public officials have worked tirelessly to keep this vision alive. What began as a grassroots effort decades ago is now one step closer to becoming reality. This has truly been a whole community effort.

Thank you to everyone who believed in the importance of restoring this historic centerpiece of Frederick Law Olmsted’s original design for Highland Park as a community gathering space. Your generosity, persistence, and advocacy helped make this day possible.

We look forward to sharing more details and a more official update as they become available.

📷: Rochester Public Library NY Heritage Digital Collection

06/04/2026

🎤 On June 10-12, the FLOWER CITY POETRY FEST by will feature Rochester’s own Marie Howe, winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, and Kimiko Hahn, the 2025-2027 NY State Poet Laureate, as well as a dozen other beloved poets and musicians with deep ties to New York. 🪻🌸🌺

Join us for this three-night, open-air celebration of poetry and music in Rochester’s beautiful Highland Park!

Learn more about each of our featured guests and RSVP here:
https://wab.org/poetry-festival/

Wednesday, June 10:
- Willa Carroll
- Aries J
- Sarah Freligh
- with music by Dead Metaphor Soiree

Thursday, June 11:
- Amanda Eke
- Teen Poetry Contest Winners
- Rochester Oratorio Society choral performance of “Freedom” by Bronwyn Capps (9th Grade, SOTA)
- Emanuel Xavier
- with music by TYES (Esther Rogers Baker and Tyler Cassidy-Heacock)

Friday, June 12:
- Leonora Simonovis
- Kimiko Hahn
- Marie Howe
- with music by Adrienne Mack Davis

06/03/2026

Two great jazz bands present a free outdoor concert in Highland Bowl on Tuesday, June 16, 2026.

Jazz in the Bowl is a free outdoor concert–bring your lawn chair and settle in to enjoy the music. There will be free popcorn at the concert and wine sampling from Inspire Moore Winery, Vineyard and Venue.

The concert opens with the big sound of the Excursion Jazz Orchestra led by Don Sherman. The second half of the evening is music with swing by the Mid-Century Modern Jazz Quartet.

Excursion Jazz Orchestra is made up of 17 local musicians and directed by Rochester’s Mr. Holland’s Opus Award winner, music educator, and percussionist, Don Sherman. The audience can expect to be taken on a jazz journey, as EJO plays a wide variety of genres including Dixieland, Swing, Bebop, Cool, Rock, Funk, Afro-Cuban, Latin, and Pop.

The Mid-Century Modern Jazz Quartet performs with subtlety, elegance, and a swinging beat–it’s all about lines and phrasing.

05/31/2026

A beautiful time to visit rhododendron valley at Highland Park!

📸: HPC Board Member, Andrea S.

05/26/2026

Rochester, NY — The Friends of Frederick Douglass (FFD) proudly announces the Frederick Douglass Monument Commemoration. The 127th annual event celebrating the June 9, 1899 unveiling of the Frederick Douglass Monument will include remarks from elected officials, historians, and a Wreath Laying Ceremony with Eureka Lodge No. 36.

According to Rev. Juanitaelizabeth Carroll, FFD Chief Operating Officer, “Every Rochester child whose civic education includes the Frederick Douglass Monument has something unique and special to share about their hometown. The Commemoration facilitates this educational process highlighting the Monument’s history while infusing pride in knowing it is the first ever erected in the U.S. honoring an African American. Praised internationally for his work as an abolitionist spokesperson, an inspiring statesman and author, Douglass also prolifically published anti-slavery newspapers including The North Star which is the direction towards which Douglass now gestures on the Monument. We invite the community to join this historic celebration and enjoy heartfelt music as experts share historic facts about the Monument including recognition of those responsible for its 2019 relocation.”

The Monument now stands in the Rochester park area between South and Mt. Hope avenues, an area which marks the site of the Douglass homestead, touches his cemetery plot and includes his bronze monument. According to the Uncrowned Queens Institute for Research & Education on Women,Inc., Carroll’s mother, Dr. G. Juanita Pitts Carroll, who led the FFD and organized the festival for decades until her passing in 2015, realized a dream of getting the area renamed Frederick Douglass Memorial Square in 1993, complete with signage informing local residents and tourists about its historical significance.

Event Details

Tuesday June 9th at 10AM

Frederick Douglass Memorial Square

Corner of South Avenue and Robinson Drive

Admission is free to the public.

🏷️ caption & graphic by Friends of Frederick Douglass

05/18/2026

Join us Saturday, May 23 | 8 AM–1 PM for plants, garden art, local vendors, and expert advice from Monroe County Master Gardeners, all in the heart of Highland Park at Warner Caatle.

05/16/2026

Highland Park Conservancy cares for Highland Park 365 days a year to ensure its beauty at peak times like the lilac festival & for the 355 days before and after 💚

A Highland Park Conservancy membership is a meaningful way to support the care, stewardship, and future of this special place that belongs to all of us. It helps keep Highland Park’s public programs, events, and tours always free to the community, while also supporting our volunteer garden stewards and the beautification efforts that happen behind the scenes. Join us in helping the park stay vibrant, welcoming, and open to all. And to our current members, a special thank you for supporting the work we do 🌳

05/15/2026

Everyone loves Highland Park during the Lilac Festival—but what about the other 355 days a year? The Highland Park Conservancy provides weeding teams, docent tours, children’s reading hours, lectures by experts and more throughout the seasons. Join us in supporting the health and growth of this historical park by becoming a member! From $20 senior and student memberships to $1000 lifetime status, there’s a level for every pocketbook. Visit our website to learn more about the Highland Park Conservancy and to join our ranks at https://www.highlandparkconservancy.org/join. We would love to have you with us!

Address

180 Reservoir Avenue
Rochester, NY
14620

Website

http://www.HighlandParkConservancy.org/

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