Three people had a dream one day in the Fall of 1991. That dream was to have a Unitarian Universalist Congregation in the city of Canandaigua. The Reverends Carl and Maureen Thitchener (co-ministers of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst near Buffalo, NY, and also serving the Waterloo Fellowship in Waterloo, Canada), spent their summers at their retreat in the Bristol Hills, where they met Shelley Page, a young active Unitarian Universalist in the Rochester Unitarian congregation who had strong talents in areas of programming and growth. A dream of having a congregation in Canandaigua was shared equally. The initial step was to hold public meetings at Wood Library, to see if there was interest in this community. There was!

Things began to happen to make the dream come true; afternoon information meetings were held at what is now the Inn on The Lake in Canandaigua. Soon there were regular services held at the Thompson Cooperative on Main Street in Canandaigua on Sunday afternoons. (The Thitcheners were not available on Sunday mornings due to the commitments to the other congregations which they served.)

Ariel Wunrow, a long-time Unitarian Universalist from the New York City area became the first Religious Education Director, and Bill Mehls, music teacher for the Canandaigua elementary schools became the Music Director.

In early 1992 it became quite evident that this congregation would grow, but needed some changes for this to happen. So the services were changed to mornings, and the congregation was chartered as a full member of the Unitarian Universalist Association on October 3, 1993.  Space became an issue, and the congregation purchased their present home at 3024 Cooley Rd., in Canandaigua, a former Jehovah’s Witness Hall. On Easter Sunday, 1997, the new building was officially dedicated. The Reverends Carl and Maureen Thitchener became official co-ministers in the fall of 1997.

From 2009-2016, we entered a new phase of our development when we formed a partnership with Reverends Scott Tayler and Kaaren Anderson, who served as co-Senior ministers of First Unitarian Church of Rochester. Currently, we are in search for our own half-time minister.

From our beginning, we have been a teaching congregation. Over our 25-year history, six intern ministers have learned and grown with us. We hope to welcome more intern ministers in the future.