The Lilac Festival


Spring is here and so is the Lilac festival of Rochester that takes place in Rochester's Highland Park. Rochester's Lilac Festival is an annual festival of art, music, food and florals that is hosted around early May. Every year this festival attracts nearly 5,00,000 people from across the world to witness around 500 varieties of lilacs and enjoy various events, concerts and activities. This year they are celebrating it's 120th year and it has a ten-days fun and entertainment lined up for people of all age! Oh wait, did I mention that the entry to the festival is totally free?!

Rochester's Lilac Festival dates back to 1898 and the Highland Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park!😯

Dates : May 11th - May 20th, 2018

Location : Highland Park, 180 Reservoir Ave, Rochester, NY 14620

The celebration of this festival was kick-started with the Lilac parade that began at South Avenue of Science Parkway and traveled South to Highland Park ending at Goodman. Even though the weather was pretty gloomy and damp on May 11th morning, thousands of people lined up on the side of the streets to watch the parade pass by.


The ambience of the festival is so lively and vibrant. The beautiful summer weather and clear skies with amazing food stalls and great music serves as the perfect mixture for a chilling day out and rejuvenating your soul.


The concerts take place throughout the day. The schedule of the concerts can be found on The Rochester Events - Lilac Festival. People of all ages, specially the elderly folks, will show you how to 'Live Life while you're young' while dancing to the country music tunes with beers in their hands. One thing that I liked a lot about the concerts is that they had a couple of people re-enacting the songs in American Sign Language(ASL) and the stage area, perhaps most of the areas in the park, are wheelchair accessible. More than 130 bands and musical acts are featured to be performed during the 10 days of the festival.


There are plenty of the games and rides for the children and young folks too, to win soft toys and goodies.


Specially the play area carved out of wood is a crowd puller among the kids, giving them the feeling of playing in the natural woods.


The Highland Park holds the star status of presenting the largest collection of nearly 500 varieties of Lilacs on 1200 plants, spread across 22 acres out of total 155 acres of Highland Park. The violet/ purple lilacs symbolize the first emotions of love, while the white ones symbolize the youthful innocence. There are few solo artists playing soothing music while you stroll around the lilacs.


The Lilacs have light and fresh fragrance. It is floral but not too heavy, making it a peaceful spot to sit under the lilac bushes, listening to the soothing music and admiring the beauty of the nature.


Another attraction apart from the Lilacs of the Highland Park is the Tulip Garden.



The Tulip Garden, located at the entrance to the park at South and Reservoir Avenues, provides an annual bloom of a kaleidoscope of brilliant color. There are a variety of colored Tulips, with gradations as well and are very bright. 


And when we are talking of spring blooms here, how can cherry blossom not be there? You'll find a lot of cherry blossom trees around as well!




Apart from all these, the Lilac festival also hosts Lilac run (5K and 10K), art in the park, wine  tasting, the DUNKIN DONUTS DASH where participants line up and race a half a mile to the 12 Munchkins pit- stop where they will eat (or carry) a dozen Munchkins then race back to the finish line and many more activities. More details can be found on The Rochester Events - Lilac Festival. If you visit the Lilac festival I would love to hear about it!

Happy Spring🌸

Location: Rochester, NY, USA

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