GreaterBuffaloBlog

Famed Adam Mickiewicz Library, Polish beer, kielbasa, and squirt guns added to annual Churches, Bars & Markets: Polonia at Eastertime tour, Saturday March 26, Noon. Best bonnet to earn a free tour and universal admiration.

Campaign for Greater Buffalo Executive Director Tim Tielman is conducting his annual Easter Eve walking tour of East Side architectural and cultural landmarks, Churches, Bars, and Markets: Polonia at Eastertime, on Saturday March 26 at Noon. The tour, including a Polish beer or beverage, kielbasa, and a squirt gun at the Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle (“Mickey’s”) lasts two hours and costs $15 ($12 for Campaign members). The best Easter bonnet worn by a participant (store bought or homemade) will earn the wearer free admission. The tour goes on rain or shine and no reservations are necessary. Meet at Kent and Lombard St., outside Broadway Market. Info: 884-3138

The tour includes the ornate interior of the basilica-form Corpus Christi church, lit by 11,000 lights, and the only somewhat less grand interior of St. Stanislaus church, as well as the bank-vault-turned-historic-photo-display of the Polish American Veterans Association Post #1, and the comfy bar and library of the Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle, a center of Polish secular culture.

First stop is the roof of the Broadway Market for a literal and figurative overview of Polonia, a neighborhood that bloomed between 1880 and 1910 with waves of eastern European — largely Polish — immigrants. They built magnificent churches seemingly on every other block and thousands of tiny cottages, often added on to in a distinctive telescopic fashion.

The tour then visits a giant landmark rescued in the nick of time, Corpus Christi. Energetic community efforts to keep it open in 2003 led to its takeover by an order from Poland, which has doubled church attendance. Then it is past numerous bars and market stalls, all bustling with easter revelers, to the vault of the Polish American Veterans Association, where historical photos are displayed. On to St. Stanislaus Church, the “mother church” of Polonia, with a final stop at the Mickiewicz bar for a beer and kielbasa and an introduction to Dyngus Day, the end of Lent, to be celebrated across Polonia on Monday, March 28. The significance of pussy willows and squirt guns will be on the agenda. Along with the interior stops, historic police stations, firehouses, breweries, and even the remnants of a 1950s McDonalds will be seen.

Allentown East walking tour this Sat., Sept. 4

A lot of interesting things are happening in the old town these days, and this new tour highlights a lot of it. We start on Franklin Street, which has a passel of textbook examples of mid-19th century architectural styles. Second Empire, Stick Style, and Italianate are at every turn. It’s not every day you see a tree like the one in front of 404 Franklin St., either. A natural historic landmark, it is the starting point of our tour.

You’ll also see two new renovations: St. Louis Church and the Beaux Arts Catholic Union Building, plus the recently saved Metzger Building on Main St., and quaint cottages on quiet streets.

Sept. 4 Sat. 9:30am
Allentown East walking tour
2-hr walk, $8 general public/$6 Campaign members. Meet under big tree at 404 Franklin St. betw. Edward and Virginia, rain or shine
Call 884-3138 for more info.

Soldiers Circle & The Parkways tour cancelled

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo regrets to announce that it will ahve to cancel its Soldiers' Circle tours scheduled for 6pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Sept 3-5. It needs all hands available for its Architectural Revival. For more information, call Tim Tielman at 884-4831.

Central Park (the Buffalo neighborhood, not the NYC park!) tour

9:30am Sat. Sept 18. 2-hour walk, $8/$6. Meet in front of Bennett High, Main near Hertel.
At the turn of the last century, upwardly mobile Buffalonians looked north of Delaware Park to build houses. They alighted in a real estate swath named Central Park, designed by cement magnate and visionary Lewis Bennett
Bennett shepherded this enclave into one of the city’s finest neighborhoods. So impressive and archetypical are the houses that one national guide to architecture cites many of them.
People living in Central Park today are lucky: After these houses were built, the Depression and high labor and material costs ended an era of domestic opulence.