– A VISIT TO THE ROCHESTER PUBLIC MARKET
With my very first born child, Karena Ann Bernunzio Miller….now a master teacher, mom, wife, sister and daughter
On my scooter at the public market…
"Fare Game" is always been of my favorite places. Here I am with “Barry” Kucker ….we tried one of his famous pastrami sandwiches
No visit to the market would be complete without spending some time at Vince Giordano‘s fabulous olive and cheese Emporium
While the market, I ran into one of my old students from my teaching days at Hoover Drive Junior High. Vincent Zagari was with his daughter and granddaughter at the market. It was a delight to run into him.
With my friends Jazzy Man and Jim Tuchrello who are regular market attendees…
Bernunzio’s has always been on the cutting edge of high-tech….. this is when we got our fax machine!
A Visit to the Rochester Public Market
November 9th, 2026
Dear Friends,
This past Friday I spent the night in Rochester, the big city. My daughter Kara invited me to stay at her house since her husband Mike was visiting his mom in Washington, DC. I don’t jump at the chances to do things like this because I worry that my disabilities are going to keep me from enjoying myself. However, with some coaxing from Kara, I just made up my mind that I was going to do it. First, we went to a movie at a Little Theater. We saw the movie "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York" with John Turturro and Steve Buscemi. Of course they were two of the stars in the movie, "The Great Lebowski", which is one of my favorites. They’re playing quite similar roles, though now they are old men….. After that we went to dinner at a wonderful local place and probably one of the finest restaurants in Rochester, Lento…. At Village Gate. I hadn’t been to that part of the city in quite a long time, I found it very vibrant on a Friday evening. I started to think of all the things that we miss by living in Penn Yan. We miss seeing our grandkids grow and we miss impromptu evenings with children. It made me feel a bit unsteady but I remind myself we are only one hour away!
On Saturday morning, before I went to work, Kara and I headed for the Rochester Public Market. Beginning more than 120 years ago, the Rochester Public Market has been one of the city’s most diverse and vibrant gathering places. It is very close to the old Italian enclave that I was part of as a child. Seventy -five years ago, my grandmother would to bring me to the market on a wagon to buy fruit and vegetables from vendors and farmers because they had much better, and cheaper produce than you could get at a store. When I became a father, I made it a point to introduce the market to all of my children as an important part of their growing up. I’m proud to say today they frequent it quite often. Sadly, I have not been to the market in many years even before we moved to Penn Yan. My disability made it kind of difficult and then when I started using a Mobility scooter I just guess I didn’t want my friends at the market to see me like that. But now it is part of my personality, so I proudly scooted around the market and caught up with some people I hadn’t seen in many years. So I leave you with a few pictures of our morning at the market.
This week we launched a new version of website for Bernunzio Uptown Music. There are a few kinks that we are working out and we welcome feedback as always from our customers and friends everywhere. When it’s done, it should make everything much more seamless but right now there are a few issues that we’re trying to iron out. Let us know if you have any difficulty navigating it.
With peace,
John Bernunzio.
Meanwhile, Ryan Yarmel took Bernunzio’s on the road to the Banjo Gathering in Gaithersburg, Maryland
Here he is with a couple of my old friends, Norm and Larry!
The finest five strings we have ever had for sale now….