As the holiday season approaches, we are excited to announce our upcoming holiday event, which promises to be a spectacular celebration of joy and merriment!

“It’s a Wonderful Life in the South Wedge” is the annual holiday festival produced by the Business Association of the South Wedge Area (BASWA), now in its 11th year! It will be held in locations throughout the South Wedge on Saturday December 2, 2023, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. We would like to offer you an opportunity to sponsor this special event to help us ensure it is a success.

The objectives of this festival are multifaceted: to draw people into this vibrant city neighborhood, to feature many local businesses and showcase our commercial district, and to offer the best in local entertainment, vendors, food and drink. The event will be free to the public and usually attracts several thousand people over the course of the day, many of them returning again later after being introduced to the area through this event.

The event will feature the best in Rochester’s food trucks and local musicians spread throughout the commercial district. Carolers from the Rochester Oratorio Society will be strolling around entertaining festival goers. Santa will be on hand to talk to the kids. People will be able to purchase live Christmas trees, harvested fresh from a local farm. Artists and makers will be selling their handmade items in locations throughout the neighborhood: at the Odd Fellows Lodge, Groove Juice Swing dance hall, Star Alley Park, Postler & Jaeckle’s parking lot, and inside several local businesses. Childrens’ crafts and activities will be held in several locations too, including Abundance Co-op. After dark, we’ll kick it up a notch with Christmas Karaoke at Lux Lounge for the adult crowd. Throughout all of this, our local businesses will provide the backdrop and be open throughout the festival. They will be encouraged to offer a special deal that day which we will promote through printed event guides and online via our website and social media channels to encourage more people to visit our great local businesses.

To promote this event we have created a robust marketing campaign that includes signage at each participating location, a printed event guide with map, print and radio advertising through City Magazine, WXXI and WRUR, the Little Theater, WARM101 and Fickle Radio, and online presence on the www.southwedge.com website and our social media.