PGA out-of-towners, prepare to be schooled: Rochester's way of doing things

Of 225,000 spectators expected to show up for the PGA Championship at Oak Hill May 15 through 21, nearly 88,000 will be from out of town.

If you’re one of them, here’s what you need to know about Rochester.

We have our own way of seeing things. Take beer kegs, for instance. Only useful if at least half-full, right? Wrong. Completely empty, stacked a certain way and decorated with thousands of colorful lights, they look just like a Christmas tree. Come back in December. Really.

We have our own way of saying things. Charlotte — not the city in North Carolina but a neighborhood in Rochester — is “shar-LOT.” And Chili — not the stew but a Rochester suburb — is “CHI-LIE.”

And we say those things with an accent. A lot of us aren’t aware of our accent. A few of us swear we don’t have one. But we do, and it will become apparent to anyone from out of town when the conversation turns to a predicted “cold snee-ap” or — fingers crossed — “feean-teeas-tic weather.” Also, just so you know, “Rochester” has two syllables: “RACH-str.”

Our cuisine runs the gamut, but we’re known for white hots, Garbage Plates and Chicken French. Any or all may be polished off with Genesee Beer or Abbott’s Frozen Custard. Up to you.

We can be cynical at times. Who could blame us? We watched Eastman Kodak, a once-iconic company founded and headquartered right here in Rochester, collapse before our very eyes. Despite glimmers of hope that something might come along to replace it (photonics?) or return it to glory (drug manufacturing?), nothing has, and it remains a mere shadow of a shadow of a shadow of its former self.

We’ve also witnessed more than our share of failed attempts at revitalization, including with the launch of fast-ferry service between here and Toronto, that beacon of sophistication across Lake Ontario. The venture was such a colossal financial disaster that 20 years later, it is the standard by which all other ideas for revitalization are judged, as in, “Oh, great, another fast ferry.”

So yeah, we’ve been through some stuff and are accustomed to having the rug yanked out from under us.

But we’re resilient. Otherwise, we couldn’t withstand the winters, which, 2022-23 aside, are long and cold and oppressively cloudy. We may run to the store to stock up on essentials when bad weather is in the forecast, but we’re not going to be completely blown off course by it. Witness Andrew Jones securing a 30-rack of Genny during a March 2017 snowstorm that made car travel impossible.

Speaking of stores, homegrown supermarket chain Wegmans is often a topic of conversation. Recently, though, everyone’s been talking about the new girl in town — Whole Foods.

Something else locals like to talk about is how you’re no more than a 20-minute drive from wherever you want to be. It’s a point of pride, being able to get from A to B largely unimpeded. Not like in a metropolis, where you can spend half your life sitting and stewing in traffic.

Another thing, and this is a biggie: There’s always a Rochester connection. Always, and we love to highlight them.

You’re probably aware that Rochester is where history-changers Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony spent the most productive periods of their lives and are buried. But did you know that as a teenager, Humphrey Bogart spent summers on Canandaigua Lake, one of our closest Finger Lakes? Or that Robert Downey Jr.’s first starring theatrical role was in a production at Rochester’s Geva Theatre Center? Or that the Billy Pilgrim character from Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five” was based on Edward R. Crone Jr., who grew up in Brighton, a Rochester suburb? Or that Rory McIlroy, the world’s No. 3-ranked golfer and among those favored to win at Oak Hill, is married to Erica Stoll, who grew up in Irondequoit, another Rochester suburb?

You do now.

Yet, despite all its history and connections, Rochester isn’t full of itself. Folks here can take a joke.

That was never more evident than when Maureen Callahan of the New York Post was embraced by the community after writing a column in which she described Rochester as “grim and depressing.”

OK, she wasn’t embraced right off the bat. At first, her snotty assessment prompted a slew of tweets filled with fire and pitchfork emojis. Then the always-winning front office of our Triple-A baseball franchise, the Rochester Red Wings, found an inspired way to spin her snark with a promotional event called Maureen Callahan Night, a celebration (wink-wink) of all things grim and depressing, featuring Brooklynite Callahan as guest of honor.

Talk about turning lemons into lemonade, another concept familiar to locals. The team could barely keep up with the demand for “Grim & Depressing”-branded merchandise.

In August 2021, after a long delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Post scribe finally met us on our turf. As she made her way to the mound to throw the ceremonial first pitch, legendary Red Wings accompanist Fred Costello tapped out a jaunty rendition of “New York, New York” on the organ, and the team’s general manager, Dan Mason, introduced Callahan as “the leader of the grim and depressing movement!”

Everyone had a laugh, and a ball.

We hope you do, too.

Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: PGA Championship in Rochester NY: What to know about the city