On a cool Sunday morning in early September, the downtown Rochester ballpark long known as Frontier Field — and that this year carries a new name, ESL Ballpark — filled not with the crack of bats but with the rhythmic, deliberate sound of boots on concrete. Firefighters in full turnout gear joined community members in climbing the stadium's bleacher stairs again and again, up and down, until they had covered the equivalent of 110 stories. It was the Rochester 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb & Walk, and on September 6, 2026, it carried a particular weight: the twenty-fifth anniversary of the attacks that the event exists to remember.
The premise is deceptively simple. Each participant climbs or walks the equivalent of the 110 stories of the World Trade Center towers — roughly 2,200 steps — the ascent that New York City firefighters undertook on the morning of September 11, 2001. Each participant pays tribute to one of the 343 FDNY firefighters who died that day, symbolically completing the heroic journey that was cut short. The act is both physical and deeply personal: a way of ensuring that each of the 343 is honored, and that the world knows they have not been forgotten.
The event is part of a nationwide series organized under the umbrella of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, headquartered in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The proceeds from the climbs fund the foundation's programs for the families of fallen firefighters and the FDNY Counseling Service Unit.
The movement has grown into a national program, with 9/11 Memorial Stair Climbs now held in cities across the country.
In Rochester, the climb is an annual event, coordinated by Jack Gligora.
The setting itself has a story. In February 2026, Monroe County, the Rochester Red Wings, and ESL Federal Credit Union announced a new naming rights agreement, and the downtown stadium, home of the Red Wings, became ESL Ballpark — a fitting name for an institution founded by George Eastman that has served the Rochester community since 1920. It was under that new name that the stair climb took place on the 25th anniversary weekend.
The 2026 climb also arrived amid a broader push by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to expand the tradition. For the 25th anniversary, the foundation launched #ForThe343, a nationwide movement inviting every American to honor the 343 firefighters — and every firefighter who has made the ultimate sacrifice since — through a shared act of remembrance. For the first time, anyone could join the tribute from anywhere: climb near you, share it, and challenge three others to do the same.
For the families of the fallen, the climbs carry a meaning that transcends the physical effort, reinforcing the program's central purpose: ensuring that the people affected by September 11 are remembered as individuals, not merely as part of a historical event. In Rochester, as in dozens of cities across the country, that is what the morning at the ballpark was about: a community gathering to climb, to remember, and to make sure that twenty-five years on, the names of the 343 are still spoken, still carried, and still honored.