New-look Central on Main opens for season

CANANDAIGUA, NY — For Nestor Ortiz, art is the same as food and music in this way.

“You’ve somehow got to put a smile on somebody’s face,” said Ortiz, a mural artist and musician with a local favorite, Dos Locos.

Ortiz is hoping to put a few smiles on the faces of the visitors to The Central on Main, downtown Canandaigua’s popular outdoor dining spot.

The official al fresco season started over the long Fourth of July holiday weekend when The Central on Main opened for business last Friday and Saturday.

The outdoor dining concept emerged, as the community did, from those long, awful months of COVID-19 pandemic isolation as a way for restaurants and bars to survive the closure of their establishments and resulting restrictions when partially reopened. At first, it was seen as a way to recoup some lost business when things began to reopen.

It was introduced on a try-out basis in fall 2020, and last year was the Main's first full season, drawing several thousand people over the course of the summer and fall. The idea proved so popular that it’s now a permanent feature of downtown Canandaigua life, although work is continuing to transform this former parking lot between Simply Crepes restaurant and the Canandaigua Chamber of Commerce into something more.

Ortiz's work is temporary, a way to liven up the space for now because too-high construction costs have put the more permanent work planned for this space, such as stamped concrete and other features, on hold temporarily.

But Ortiz, who tends to go out late afternoons and evenings to create, is giving it new life and a message. If nothing else, he is adding imagery and color to the gray grounds of the former parking lot.

Ortiz's work pays homage to war-torn Ukraine with brilliantly colored sunflowers, a symbol of peace and show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people. He’s also painted vividly blue water that looks like a river running into the drains. And while their parents wait for food and drink, kids can play where Ortiz painted hopscotch squares.

Just the other night, he completed a bridge over a manhole cover. Soon, more will come, such as a checkerboard for kids to play. He's thinking of a way to incorporate the myth and legend of the serpent on Canandaigua Lake somewhere, he said.

And he's got a way of transforming the fading white, diagonal lines that once delineated parking spots into bars of sheet music, and he's thinking of painting the actual notes to a song on it.

He’ll also be painting hidden images, such as ladybugs and turtles, with the idea of getting people to move around and experience the space while on a scavenger hunt of sorts.

“It’s really cool,” said Denise Chaapel, manager of the Downtown Canandaigua Business Improvement District.

Besides the artwork, there are a few new features for the Main.

For one, it’s open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, for visitors picking up food from local eateries taking part in the concept.

It’s still mostly about the dining, although visitors can come, have a drink and listen to live music from 5 to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Chaapel said.

If you need food, too, you can order online or by phone from the Green Front, Pizano’s, Mac’s Philly Steaks, V-Pub at the Village and Simply Crepes, and your meal will be delivered to your table from 5 to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

The pickup option is available at Bon Ami Bistro, Bubby’s Tavern, Case de Pasta, Dalai Java, Eddie O’Brien’s Grille, Flavors, Frequentem Brewing, Gateway Grill, Kix on Main, Nick’s Chophouse, Patty’s Place, Peacemaker Brewing, Rheinblick German Restaurant, Rio Tomatlan, Rising Sun Chinese, Rocky’s Café, Sweet Solutions and Wally’s Pub.

Another neat new addition is an urban garden – with tomatoes, herbs, peppers, radishes, zucchini and other good stuff -- for the community to enjoy, Chaapel said.

“What doesn’t get picked and taken we will harvest it for the soup kitchen,” Chaapel said.

Count Canandaigua Mayor Bob Palumbo a fan.

"It's just a beautiful venue on a nice night," Palumbo said.

Stay tuned for more features to come, as the former parking lot continues its transformation to destination spot.

“Lots of cool stuff,” Chaapel said.

As for Ortiz, he’ll be out there through the end of the month.

Ortiz got his start painting billboards and signs, hand painting lettering and images on 30-foot-by-60-foot billboards up and down state Routes 5 and 20. As time went on, computers took over and digital prints replaced the works done by real, live artists.

That time is lost, but Ortiz remained hooked on murals.

“I’ve got to keep painting big images," said Ortiz, who went on to do advertising billboards for the old Geneva Knights baseball team before segueing to “living rooms and bedrooms and salons and man caves.”

Ortiz does have food-and-drink bona fides. The former facilities manager at the New York Kitchen in Canandaigua has designed beer can labels for local craft brewers such as Twisted Rail Brewing and Peacemaker Brewing Co.

But art slakes his thirst. He has a goal of having a mural somewhere on each of the Finger Lakes, and has started a Facebook page, Finger Lakes Mural Project, as a showcase for some of his works.

“Large-scale art is awesome,” Ortiz said. “It’s just fun to do. I love being creative that way.”

This article originally appeared on MPNnow: Central on Main in Canandaigua NY opens for season