Left to right are HF-L grads Steve Grills, Tim, Deb, Jim Shelly. Photo taken by HF-L grad Julie Vogt
BY DEB AND TIM SMITH
This past Sunday found us in Lima, revisiting Deb’s hometown, and taking in the “Largest free festival in the Finger Lakes,” the Lima Crossroads Festival. As the description in the previous sentence confirms, this hometown Lima event has become huge. It runs for 4 days now and has drawn as many as 17,000 attendees over that time span. This past weekend, 18 musical acts performed in the two 40,000-square-foot tents, the East Tent located adjacent to the Town Hall and the West Tent located in the Fanatics parking lot.
Multiple food vendors, and entertainment options lined the streets for kids of all ages. “It’s an awesome festival,” said Jason Laska, a grill master in the barbeque competition. “Everything here is just amazing; it’s just the atmosphere. Everyone is in a big, very happy-go-lucky state of mind and it’s awesome here.”
When we were there, the final day launched with a performance by one of HF-L’s most accomplished graduates, in terms of musical achievement, Lima native Steve Grills. With his band, the Roadmasters, Steve has been touring extensively for decades. The picture here shows us with Steve and Fanatics owner Jim Shelly in front of the custom Lima mural that adorns the wall behind the concert stage at Fanatics.
We combined our festival visit with the continuation of our charity book-signing project which has us obtaining as many signatures as possible from people included in our most recent book Royally Regaling Greater Rochester ~ Taking Stock of the ROC. Upon completion of our signature collection, we are donating copies to the 2026 charity auctions of Lollipop Farm (animal rescue) and Channel 21 (public television).
New Lima signatures added to the project included Steve Grills (musician), Jim Shelly and Julie Vogt (Fanatics), Martha Sempowski, Duane & Gail Fuller (Lima Historical Society), Dick Garey (Lima bank robbery story), John Skiptunas (Lima Village Mayor), and Mike Falk (Lima Town Supervisor). Thatsa lotta Lima!
We’re not sure how future festivals will be able to beat this year’s, but we do know one thing. We’ll be back to find out.
