June 17th, 2024

Good mornings folks,

    Julie and I plan on spending a lot of time this week and next in Rochester. It is the 21st edition of the Rochester International Jazz Festival and it is the reason we located our music store in downtown Rochester. Our huge sale, organized by Sam Snyder, continues and there are still some great bargains to be had. We will have a "special in store only" sale of some of the newer instruments in stock. So if you’re in town stop by for some amazing deals.

    This past Wednesday, Julie had to spend the night in Rochester. Left to myself, I thought what kind of trouble could I get into? So I immediately headed off, on my bright red mobility scooter, to Laurentide Brewery to wet my whistle and organize my evening. After some lively conversation, a couple of beers and some popcorn, I decided it was time to get something for dinner. Laurentide has not begun their restaurant program yet, so I had to venture out around town. At first, I thought I would stop at my neighbor’s little wine bar, The Burnt Rose. They have a tasty menu and some great libation, but they were closed that evening. They have another restaurant called the 18th Amendment, which is undoubtedly the best food in town… but I didn’t feel I should go there without Julie, so I ventured forward. I thought of the Keuka Restaurant, but I knew that I would order the sweet potato fries and it was not on my diet so I looked further on. A devastating fire has closed the Penn Yan Diner so they were off the table. As I came to the end of Main Street,  I decided to proceed to the Outlet Trail….It is a little paved path that runs through town along the river that connects Keuka Lake and Seneca Lake. There’s a nice Italian restaurant close by called Union Block, but they were getting ready to close so I crossed over the bridge to proceed down the trail. Now as you cross the bridge there’s a large swing that was recently installed along the trail. It’s a beautiful resting spot and overlooks the water. There sat a young couple. The man had his arm around the young woman and she had her head on his shoulder. I noticed the woman was nursing a very young baby. I said to them "that is the most beautiful sight of love that I’ve seen". They smiled at me, wished me a good evening and I proceeded down the trail not knowing exactly where it was going to take me.  I had about given it up on the idea of dinner. Now, as the trail proceeds toward the mouth of the river it goes through a little wooded area, crosses a stream and then come out to a large area of baseball complex, where the Penn Yan little league plays their games. As luck would have it, there was a game in progress. It was the last inning and the home team was down 7 to 3. There was also a concession stand that is run by the owner of the Keuka Candy Shop in town and of course they were cooking hotdogs and french fries and that became my meal. I put my order in, parked by mobility card right next to the first base side and watched the Penn Yan team come from behind and score 5 runs to win the game. Needless to say there was much exuberance and the kids were all ecstatic, but the coach called them all together. He really gave them some great words as he told them that, although it was an exciting victory, the other team played a really good game and they’re good sports and right now they probably feeling emotionally devastated. He shouted that didn’t want to hear any of his players gloating in their victory or saying anything negative towards the other players. He really emphasized the sportsmanship part of the game. It’s these little experiences that make me love this town so much.

With peace,

John Bernunzio

Most of the gang…. together at Steuben Brewery