COVID-19 Causes Cancellation of Fall Big Band Series at Roger Robach Center

The Ontario Beach Park Program Committee today announced that the popular Fall Big Band Dance Series, held annually on Wednesday evenings in September and October at Ontario Beach Park’s Roger Robach Center, will not take place this year due to concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We hate to have to cancel another popular community event, but with an indoor setting and an audience that trends toward an older demographic, we just didn’t see any way to move forward safely,” Committee Chairperson Jim Farr stated.

The Big Band Dances are sponsored and presented by the Ontario Beach Park Program Committee, with support from the City of Rochester and Monroe County.  The series has been a fixture in both the spring and fall seasons for over 30 years, and provide a venue for the community to experience this unique form of jazz music and big band standards.

At each of the dances, audiences are entertained with live performances by 10-piece groups consisting of saxophones, trumpets, trombones and a rhythm section.  Big band music is now being discovered by a new generation of fans, as well as ballroom and swing dancers.

The Program Committee hopes to be able to resume the series in April.