A City of Good Neighbors, Some Fascinating History, and Really Great Weather
Why would anyone want to live in Buffalo? All that snow ... yikes! ... Who would want to put up with that?
Let’s put the weather aside for a moment. This is a vibrant, energized city whose citizens care deeply about their community. It’s a city of neighborhoods, where helping each other is common, expected and almost required. It has its problems, as all cities do. The poverty rate is distressing, and it is consistently among the poorest cities in the nation whenever rankings come out. The public school system is in disarray, with seemingly no end in sight for the problems of a divided school board and failed policies. But people are what matter and Buffalo has some of the best around; it always has. And the people are helping the city undergo a renaissance. The downtown is booming with construction cranes and redevelopment of resources long neglected. After decades of seeing the waterfront as a place for steel mills and factories, people are finally realizing what wonderful potential it holds. Parks, trails, recreation opportunities, places for the public to gather are now foremost in any developer's mind. The great grain elevators, once bustling as Buffalo's role as a terminus on the Erie Canal, are beginning to be reused in fascinating ways. Museums are among the most respected in the world, with the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Burchfield Penney Art Center, and the Botanical Gardens leading the way. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is outstanding and there are playhouses, opera companies and pockets of art all around. The architecture is breathtaking with some of the finest examples close to UUCB. The H.H. Richardson Complex, just a dozen or so blocks to the north of our church is undergoing a magnificent reconstruction. The Darwin Martin House is just one of six that Frank Lloyd Wright designed around Buffalo. His legacy in Buffalo includes The Larkin Building, Graycliff Estate, Davidson House,Heath House, Blue Sky Mausoleum, Rowing Boathouse and the Filling Station. Buffalo has become a mecca for the arts. And the talk of the region; a region that includes Niagara Falls (20 miles to the north) and Toronto, 75 miles to the north. A story in the New York Times had high praise for Buffalo in "Once Just a Punch Line, Buffalo Fights Back." The Toronto Star recently published a story describing Buffalo as a city of "great hospitality". Buffalo has a fascinating, colorful history in music, too, and hidden cultural gems on the East Side of the city that are only now just getting widespread attention. The Colored Musicians Club of Buffalo hosted jazz artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holliday, Lena Horne and dozens of others. It's still holding live jazz shows and houses a museum. Buffalo holds a special place in the history of the Niagara Movement, which began when W. E.B. DuBois recruited a group of black professionals he called "The Talented Tenth" and held a summit in 1905. DuBois wanted a place with pastoral recreation options so the goup met at the Erie Beach Hotel in Fort Erie, Ontario. The Declaration of Principles authored by DuBois as a result of this meeting became the basis for the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Buffalonian Mary Talbert was committed to the Niagara Movement and she opened her Michigan Avenue home to DuBois, John Hope and 27 others for a secret planning meeting of the famous summit. Talbert went on to serve as president, vice president and director of the NAACP. Still we hear, "There's too much snow." But, that's not really true. Those snowmaggedon images on the Weather Channel and CNN are usually from the areas south of the City of Buffalo in the snowbelt territory, where, yes, it's true, 200 inches can fall in a winter. But in the city, it's usually just a dusting to a couple inches, just enough to make it quiet; a dampening effect that makes everything seem more serene. |
There's a reason the founders settled the village where they did; north of the lake effect snow bands. There are an average of two storms per winter in Buffalo with accumulations of more than six inches – about the same as Boston. We have about 25 days of measurable snow in the city each winter.
Like any place that gets a lot of snow, Buffalo knows how to deal with it. So, yes, it snows in Buffalo. But some like it. There are several downhill skiing areas within easy driving distance. Cross-country skiing is as good here as anywhere else in the state (and I've lived near the famous Tug Hill Plateau in Jefferson and Oswego counties). Kids love sledding and there are sledding hills everywhere. A winter hike along the Niagara River gorge trail is one of the best day trips you can make. The Falls in winter, are gorgeous with ice clouds and shimmering lights. ... Live here long enough, and you might get a chance to see the ice bridge on the Niagara River just below Niagara Falls. (I've even seen the Falls freeze!) Spring in Buffalo is beautiful. The gardens come alive, especially near the Garden Entrance to UUCB, and throughout the Elmwood Village. People are moving about, tending to their yards and public spaces, the Elmwood Bidwell Farmers Market is getting into full swing. Warm days, cool nights. A walk along the Niagara River trail reveals migrant birds amid the last of the ice, racing toward the Falls. Summers are the best kept secret of Buffalo. We might have a few days of 90-degrees, but otherwise it's 70s and 80s with abundant sunshine. Sailboats on Lake Erie (and Lake Ontario), the kayaking is great on the Buffalo River, Tonawanda Creek, Ellicott Creek. If there is an outdoor activity, Buffalo has it all. According to weather records, Buffalo has more days of summer sunshine than any other major city in the northeastern United States. Breezes off Lake Erie keep humidity in the Western New York area relatively low. Summer brings an incredible number of festivals almost every weekend including the Allentown Art Festival, Taste of Buffalo, Juneteenth Festival, Friendship Festival (celebrating friendship with our Canadian neighbors with our national holidays on July 1 and July 4), Italian Festival, Canalfest in the Tonawandas (celebrating the Erie Canal), the Erie County Fair (2nd largest after NY State fair) and many more. So the weather is the weather, there's not much you can do about it. There's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. What Buffalo has is so much more. Architecture, museums, music, restaurants, neighborhoods, people. You won't find better anywhere. A former general manager of the Buffalo Bills once said, "Once you live in Buffalo, you never really leave it. You might go someplace else to work, but you never really leave." I went somewhere else to work for 25 years. But I came back. You might say, I never left. I'm in the same neighborhood I grew up in and the change has been all good. Take a look as some of the links on this page. You might be surprised what a great place this is. And, as I like to tell all visitors, "Welcome to Buffalo, where Canada is to the West." Doug Sherman |