This summer I am volunteering for Greentopia Festival, an annual week long event that highlights local green businesses, music, art, and other practices. At the moment, Greentopia has many partners – like-minded organizations, such as The Community Foundation and the Arts and Cultural Council for Greater
Rochester. One in particular is the Garden Aerial, a project which intends to develop a walking bridge over the High Falls of the Genesee River located in downtown Rochester. This pedestrian connection would directly link downtown Rochester to the Falls through a three-quarter-mile looped trail around the rim of the gorge. The project was a stagnated until recently until the Garden Aerial purchased the historic 28,478-square-foot property known as 275 St. Paul Street, a parcel that contains the escarpment over which the Genesee River flows, creating the 96-foot-high cascade known as High Falls. The acquisition was made possible due to the Rose Family Foundation and the High Falls Development Corporation.
Organizers of the project hope that it will renew attention for Rochester’s natural assets and connect surrounding communities. People will be able to witness, up close, the power of the river which was once used to fuel flour mills and other industries at the turn of the century. For more information, click here.
By Alanna Scheinerman, Class of 2o13
