We're On Facebook! (Again)

Due to new rules at Facebook we've updated our Facebook Group. Be sure to "Like" our new Facebook Page. We'll be updating it with photos and other event updates during the winter. You might find a picture of yourself on a Buffalo Tour!

WGRZ.com features City Hall

Click on this link: Architectural Showcase: Buffalo City Hall

Buffalo Tours at the Lewiston Art Festival

Thanks to everyone who visited us at last weekend's Lewiston Art Festival! We met about 500 people and had a great time. Here's a photo of Cindy and Paul manning the Buffalo Tours tent. [photo by Carol at Graycliff]

African-American Heritage Tour of Buffalo

Some time ago we took a great group of visitors on a themed tour of African-American heritage spots in downtown Buffalo. Wouldn't you know, but we just stumbled upon one person's slideshow of the tour. If you take photos during a Buffalo Tours event and would like them posted, E-mail Buffalo Tours and we'll be happy to show them off!

Buffalo Bike Tour

Our Gold Medal Grain Elevators Bike Tour took place on June 4th. It was so popular that we are having a second one on Saturday, July 30th at 10am. Be sure to contact Buffalo Tours at (716) 852-3300 for a reservation: Tours are $20 and a working bike and helmet is required.

In the meantime, chaperone Meagan Baco made a short film about the first tour. Check it out below:

Buffalo Tours at the Erie Canal Harbor

Fellow docent Maureen Evans was featured in a TV piece about our Erie Canal Harbor tours. Check out the free tour on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at Noon this summer!

Erie Canal Stories

Buffalo News 7/4/11
Note the video on the above page is not related to the canal tours.
WGRZ 7/4/11

Buffalo on Cover of Preservation Magazine

You can read the entire article, Reinventing Buffalo, on the National Trust's website. WIVB Channel 4 also interviewed our Executive Director, Henry McCartney, on TV about the article.

Magazine swoons over Buffalo architecture: wivb.com

Buffalo to Austin, to Buffalo

In October 2010 I drove from my hometown of Buffalo, New York to Austin, Texas for the 2010 National Preservation Conference.  This year the 2011 Conference happens to be in Buffalo so I won't be traveling at all.  Since the Conference has many repeat attendees and half of America's population lies within a day's drive of Buffalo, I thought potential visitors might want to see just a few of my photos.  You probably won't travel a 4,500 mile route through 16 different states like I did, but here's my travelogue anyway.

All I used was a GPS, a cheap digital camera, a "This Place Matters" sign and a tiny pumpkin as a sort of Travelocity Gnome / Flat Stanley (it was Halloween, after all).  Thanks to Andrew Gorman of the National Trust for setting up my field session schedule, Henry McCartney of Preservation Buffalo Niagara for all the other Conference arrangements (including days off for travel), and Jennifer Walkowski for providing the pocket-sized pumpkin.

TO PLAY: Click on the captions before clicking Play or a new window will open.  There are about 25 slides changing automatically every 10 seconds.  This slideshow is in 3 parts: Before, During, and After the Conference.

--Fred Schrock, Education Coordinator

Buffalo Tours Docent Writes Lincoln Book

Longtime docent John Fagant recently published The Best of the Bargain: Lincoln in Western New York, available at Amazon.com and Talking Leaves Bookstores. The book describes in detail the recently-elected Lincoln on his inaugural trip through the region in 1861. You can read a chapter of the book at BuffaloAH.com and even hear a February 4th interview with the author himself at Toginet.com. His book was even referenced by a New York Times columnist.

Congrats John!

Baby, It's Cold Outside - FREE TOURS in January and February

Every Friday at 10am in January and February, Buffalo Tours will offer free downtown walking tours when the temperature is 25 degrees or below. For each degree above 25 the cost goes up $1 to a maximum of $10 per adult ($5 for students). Price is determined 15 minutes before the tour using the Weather Channel website for the 14203 zip code. Tours meet in the Buffalo Visitor Center at 617 Main Street.

In the coldest weather, Buffalo Tours' trained, volunteer docents quickly go from historic interior to historic interior, from M&T's gold dome to St. Paul's Cathedral. This Winter Special was the result of a walking tour held last February for twenty people. The temperature that day: three degrees Fahrenheit, not including the wind chill factor. Maybe it's crazy to be outside when the weather is this cold, but that hasn't deterred our visitors yet. Why not reward the heartiest tour-takers with even crazier prices?

Unlike winter Bills games at the Ralph, shirts are required on all tours. Tour goers are not allowed to pray for bad weather. Attendees from within Western New York are encouraged to brag that "this is nothing" in the vicinity of out-of-towners. No change is given for coupons or Buffalo Tour Bucks.

Reservations are not required. For more information, visit BuffaloTours.org or call (716) 852-3300.

Imagining Buffalo's Waterfront

Be sure to check out this video about the redevelopment of Buffalo's Waterfront, including an interview with local activist Mark Goldman as he discusses prospects for the future.

IMAGINING BUFFALO'S WATERFRONT from nathan m peracciny on Vimeo.

Visit Buffalo: This Place Matters

Watch the newest video from the Buffalo Convention and Visitors Bureau. Made in preparation for the 2011 National Preservation Conference

Buffalo Tours Docent Interview

Congratulations to docent Tom Mudra for his recent video interview on Skunkpost.com. To view the entire clip, click on the link below:

http://www.skunkpost.com/news.sp?newsId=2920

Docent in the News

Suzanne Prabucki was recently featured by Buffalo State College for her work curating the Fraunces Tavern Museum, a Revolutionary War landmark in New York City. While studying at Buffalo State, Suzanne gave several tours and even wrote a new tour highlighting EB Green's residential architecture in Buffalo. For more about Suzanne, visit the website for Buffalo State College.

Massachusetts Makeover on TV

WKBW Channel 7
YNN Time Warner Cable


This weekend's Massachusetts Makeover tour was well-attended, and got on TV, too! Click the links below to see what all the fuss was about. Be sure to take the next Massachusetts Makeover tour on August 28!

Niagara Square Exhibit at Historical Society

The evolution of a premier residential address to a civic hub
Click Here

Buffalo Tours in the News

Here's a link about our recent tour in the Village of Kenmore, featured in the Tonawanda News.

Here's another link about our docent training program, featured in Buffalo Rising.

And if you haven't done it already, click here to join our Facebook group, now 1000 people strong!

Pin your history to the world

Upload your vintage pictures of places and pin them to Google Streetview:
historypin.com

National Preservation Conference Planning

Representatives from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to Discuss the October 2011 Conference to be hosted in Buffalo -

Public Invited to Share Thoughts, Ask Questions, Volunteer

WHAT: National Trust representatives will kick off planning for the 2011 National Preservation Conference that will be held in Buffalo from Oct. 18-22, 2011. Officials will present their goals for the conference and solicit ideas for sessions, tours, speakers and more. The session will also be used to sign up volunteers to assist with organizing and marketing the conference and to assist during the conference itself. A question and answer session will conclude the evening. All interested organizations and individuals are invited to attend.

WHO: Valecia Crusafilli, NTHP, Acting Vice President, Programs
Lori Feinman, NTHP, Associate Director for Conferences and Training
Catherine Schweitzer, Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Chair
Edward Healy, Visit Buffalo Niagara, Vice President, Marketing
Michael Even, Visit Buffalo Niagara, Vice President, Sales

WHEN: WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 5:00 pm.

WHERE: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1285 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo

You can pre-register for this session and be placed on the conference planning mailing list by contacting Preservation Buffalo Niagara at 852-3300 or send your name, organization (if any), address and email to info@p-b-n.org. Updates on conference planning will be posted on p-b-n.org.