Three weeks after the farmers market packed up for the year, a fenced work site went up across from the market shed on Kings Highway North.
That fence surrounds the first large piece of a plan Irondequoit started discussing in the spring of 2021. By that October the town was calling it the "Backyard Project" and had set a finish date in the fall of 2022. It has been built in installments instead. The playground broke ground on October 16, 2026. A stage and pickleball courts are next. The farmers market moves into its permanent building in spring 2027. Because of those staggered dates, the Town Hall campus this winter is the first season when every part of the plan is visible at once, some finished, some under construction and some still on paper.
The 2021 Version Had a Single Finish Line
The idea started with an empty lot. In May 2021, RochesterFirst reported that the town planned to turn about seven acres of the Town Hall campus into a park and recreation space. That land included the site of the former Department of Public Works facility, which moved after a 2016 fire. Then-Supervisor Dave Seeley called it "a blank canvas." He said the town had budgeted $2 million for the green space and planned to pay for sustainable features partly with money set aside from the town's community solar campaign. He also said he hoped the work would be finished the following year.
In that same coverage, Assemblywoman Sarah Clark called the campus "the heart of Irondequoit." She pointed to the public library and the farmers market as the places the community loves.
By October 2021 the plan had a name and a schedule. The Rochester Business Journal reported that the town would use $500,000 in state funding to create a year-round farmers market and make the campus more accessible. Work was set to begin that spring and wrap up by fall 2022. John Perticone, then acting supervisor, said in the town's release:
"This is a very exciting opportunity — an opportunity to re-shape our Town Hall campus. It is also an opportunity that our residents had input into, input that we listened to."
That plan treated the market, the accessibility work and the park as one package with one deadline.
Five Years, Built in Pieces
The town's own board records show how the single deadline turned into a series of smaller steps:
- November 2024. Town Board minutes recorded the Public Works Commissioner saying the Backyard work was "wrapped for the rest of the year." The same minutes placed that season's Winter Market in the market shed.
- December 17, 2024. The board passed a resolution putting $115,993.69 in federal ARPA money toward a playground area in the Town Hall Campus "Backyard."
- May 2025. Board minutes said the farmers market would open May 1 on Columbus Way, Thursdays from 4 p.m. to dusk.
- March 30, 2026. Sealed bids for playground installation were opened. The town had published the notice in the Daily Record on March 6.
- April 21, 2026. The board's packet named Play-1 Installation as the lowest responsible bidder. It also noted that the town's next request for proposals would cover a playground, a new stage and pickleball courts, paid for with state and ARPA funds.
- October 16, 2026. Town officials broke ground on the Backyard Play Area.
Over five years the park has come together from separate pots of money, starting with a state grant and a federal recovery allocation and ending with a bid and a contractor. The market kept running through all of it, held its Thursday evenings, and moved around the campus as the pieces changed.
What the Fence Across From the Market Shed Is Building
The April 2026 bid resolution places the new playground "across from the Market Shed on Kings Highway." The same contract replaces the existing equipment at the Bristol Tot Lot, so the work reaches beyond the Town Hall campus. The resolution lists Play-1 Installation's bid at $685,400 in one clause and the award at $658,400 in another.
13WHAM's report on the groundbreaking describes a fenced, 7,000-square-foot play area with ramps, climbing structures, sensory panels and rubber surfacing throughout, so children using mobility devices can move across it easily. Its centerpiece is a 12-foot tower that officials described as the only fully accessible tower of its kind in New York State. The station reported that $800,000 in state funding, secured with help from Assemblywoman Clark and state Sen. Samra Brouk, supports the project.
Public Works Commissioner Erin Magee said in a statement carried by 13WHAM:
"The Backyard playground has been designed with inclusion at its heart, a space where children of different ages and abilities can play alongside one another and where families can experience this space together."
Perticone, now Town Supervisor, traced the design back to a 2021 community survey. That makes the playground the clearest link between the original Backyard concept and what is actually being built five years later. Equipment started arriving the week of the groundbreaking, and the town said construction would begin right away. The town has not set a public opening date.
December 6 Lands in the Middle of the Build
That timing makes this year's holiday lighting unusual. Irondequoit Rotary's event listing puts the Holiday Tree and Menorah Lighting on Sunday, December 6, 2026, at what it calls the "New Year-Round Market Building off Kings Hwy" on the Town Hall Campus. The listing includes:
- A Holiday Market with local vendors and Santa's Workshop, 4 to 7 p.m.
- Children's activities, 4 to 6:30 p.m.
- A visit from Santa
- Cider and cookies at the Pioneer House
- A Holiday Lighting Ceremony starting at 6 p.m., with the menorah and tree lighting listed at 6:30 p.m.
For anyone arriving with children, the 4 p.m. start leaves two hours before the ceremony. The Rotary listing gives both 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., so arriving by 6 covers both.
The town's largest winter gathering will take place inside the building where 13WHAM reports the market is expected to settle next spring, a few hundred feet from a playground that is still being built.
The Market's Next Address Is Already Standing
The town's farmers market page now calls the building the Quinlan Farmers' Market Building. It describes it as a place for local produce, handmade goods and community events. The town's reservation listing gives the address as 25 Kings Highway North, with a capacity of 140. It can be rented Friday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and renters handle their own setup and cleanup.
The 2026 outdoor market ran Thursdays from 4 p.m. to dusk, May 7 through October 8, with no market on July 2. According to 13WHAM, the market is expected to move into the Quinlan Market Building in spring 2027, and the town's future Backyard plans include a pavilion and stage. The town's merchant directory gives a sense of who sells there. It lists Bliek Farms, Cummings Maple Farm, Middle Road Creamery, Lagoner Farms, Stephens Bros. Farms, Patty's Petals, The Spice Project, The Fun Guys and Viking Microgreens, among others. The directory does not say which of them will sell indoors next season.
This is how the campus stands going into the first week of November 2026:
| Piece of the Backyard plan | Status, early November 2026 |
|---|---|
| Quinlan Farmers' Market Building | Built; available for weekend rentals; hosting the Dec. 6 holiday market |
| Backyard Play Area | Groundbreaking Oct. 16; under construction; no public opening date |
| Bristol Tot Lot equipment | Included in the same Play-1 Installation contract |
| Stage, pavilion, pickleball courts | Named in the town's next RFP and future plans; no schedule published |
| Thursday farmers market | Outdoor season ended Oct. 8; move into the Quinlan building expected spring 2027 |
The year-round market the town described in 2021 now has a building, the playground is under construction, and the stage is still waiting on its own request for proposals. If the spring 2027 timing holds, the Thursday market will move indoors next season, across from a playground that broke ground seven weeks before the December 6 tree lighting and has no announced opening date.
Following how a town's public spaces come together is part of how our team reads a neighborhood, from the market shed on Kings Highway to the bayfront we covered in Irondequoit's two summer waterfronts. If you'd like a local read on what the Backyard's next phases could mean for your corner of town, the team at High Falls Sotheby's International Realty can talk it through with you. Visit our Irondequoit neighborhood page or reach out directly. Contact Us.
