For the Places, the Rochester Opera House is always the place to be

Longtime Opera House supporters Bill and Linda Place of Rochester. (Rochester Voice photo)

ROCHESTER - The Rochester Opera House's Annual Lottery Cocktail Party fund-raiser is known for drawing many of Rochester's most influential movers and shakers, but on Friday night there may have been two local residents whose ties to the city's most venerable of venues go deeper than any.

Linda and Bill Place said they have never missed a Lottery Cocktail Party, and while they've never won the $10,000 grand prize or any cash prize for that matter, they said they wouldn't miss it for the world.

"We love coming here," Linda Place said as she sat with her husband and family munching on '50s-themed munchies selected specially for the occasion by Opera House Executive Director Anthony Ejarque, who, himself, was sporting a Fonzie-like leather jacket likely in deference to the Opera House's upcoming production of Happy Days the Musical, which begins its run next week.

Linda Place knows the Opera House about as well as anyone could for that matter. She first got involved as a volunteer as the then-dilapidated venue was being reclaimed in a renovation product in the early and mid-90s after decades of decay.

And when the first modern-era show in the newly renovated Opera House came to the stage in 1998, Linda Place was volunteering again, as an usher.

She later became Opera House manager for several years before taking a short hiatus. A few years later she returned to volunteer as an usher, a position she continues to fill.

While Linda Place's connections to Rochester's theatrical gem are more than 20 years in the making, her husband's go back much further than that.

Bill Place said that growing up in Rochester, the Opera House was the place to go, even back then.

"When we were 8 or 9 we spent our Saturdays and Sundays down here," he chuckled. "We'd crawl in underneath the stage, and me and my buddies would have a great time playing under there."

Linda Place said volunteering for the Opera House has been a wonderful addition to her and her husband's life.

"Of course I love going to all the shows, but the best thing is the whole experience," she said.

And the best thing about the Lottery Cocktail Party?

"Definitely the food," she said.

Of course, we then had to know her favorite Lottery Cocktail Party food of all times.

"Fried cheese balls," she said without batting an eye.

Are you listening, Anthony?