The Pear News

March 8, 2024:

In October of 2019, two artists with the help of volunteers, created a public artwork on Parcel 5 in downtown Rochester. At the time, Parcel 5 was a vacant gravel lot surrounded by big buildings and what the artists and volunteers did was, they swept the gravel into a design that was as big as an acre. The public artwork was called Midtown Mandela and it was one of the only times Parcel 5 was used for something. Almost three years ago, the open space was changed from gravel to grass and it began getting utilized a lot more with different activities and events.

Prior to being an open space, Midtown Plaza stood where Parcel 5 is today. For fifty years, people visited the mall and shopped at places like McCurdys. The mall struggled after 2000 though, and was eventually demolished in 2010. There have been many different proposals to do something with Parcel 5 over the years. They’ve talked about building a Broadway Theater or condominiums or a visitor center, but so far, it has only become a recreational public green space. The Jazz Festival and the Fringe Festival have events at this location every year and there are many more occurrences at Parcel 5 like outdoor yoga. For instance, on April 8^th, there’s going to be a free Party in The Dark Solar Eclipse Party from 12-4PM at Parcel 5. There’s going to be live music and food and they’re giving away solar eclipse viewing glasses too.

Dan Bauman