It's Easter this week, and as people throng to the Broadway Market for the annual pilgramage to a neighborhood that has seen much white flight, they'll encounter an array of market vendors that are more diverse than the Old Polonia streets they might have once known.
The neighborhood may not be Polonia as much anymore, but Dyngus Day on Monday will be a party for those who are Polish for a day. They like the market shoppers will be wandering through a neighborhood filled with the business signs of change, from Islamic restaurants and pharmacies to that hihab shop.
Traditionally, the week before Easter brings out people with ancestral, ethnic ties to the market, whether living in the 'burbs or far away. But, this year is different because of the overlap of Easter, Passover and Ramadan. Perhaps that's why the operator of Buffalo Halal Sweets and Roti House was too busy to talk and there were a lot of customers for a Bangladeshi food stand in the center of the market, all signs the building has changed, as has the surrounding community, once historic Polonia. Sayeda Moin was serving new food to the traditional Broadway Market crowd and they were eating it.
"We have sardine, very delicious. Our cuisine, Bangladeshi style, chicken tikka with yellow rice. So, people are having that and then love it. So, it’s a really good time, she says.
A few steps away, the workers at Apa's Kitchen are in a completely different circumstance: since it's Ramadan and they can't eat until sunset. Around them, there were a lot of people eating.
As the customers swarm in, they can see the 100-percent Halal neon sign on Apa’s, sign of that shifting clientele. That’s symbolized a few blocks down Broadway at a store selling traditional Middle Eastern clothing, like hijabs. While the market has changed a lot over the decades, there are operators who have been around a long time.
Michelle Lupas' family has been operating in the landmark for 48-years. She says it's been a good year and Lupas does good business year-round.
"The last couple years, it was a lot different. It was still busy but not as crowded like it is now because people were afraid to come out. We did a lot of curbside pickups and a lot of orders on-line that they would pick up, but not in the Market, the people that were afraid, stayed in the car," she says
There were also opportunities to have a wider range of food products, including some smoked meats and wine.
"(We have) More based in fruit wines than the more traditional grape wines. That's because my boss's husband is the managing partner of Bittner-Singer Orchards. So, we get all of our cherries. We get all of our apples. We get all of our apricots. We have an apricot wine as well," says Michael Licata was there from Marjim Manor winery in Appleton.
There was another local winery just a few feet away, Savage Winery out of Chaffee in southern Erie County, with an outpost on Lake Ontario in Wilson. Brandon Rounds says Savage's wines attract attention because of a familiar name reflecting old style Buffalo tastes even as the mix of vendors changes.
"Loganberry does really well," Rounds says. " A lot of people like it. Crystal Beach, you know. We do very well with that. That is our best seller and we always have loganberry around here."
Kim Poczciwinski says her family's Potts Restaurant is part of the old guard, with Polish food. And it sees the traditional rush.
"Easter is very, very busy. Christmas sells out. Otherwise, it's not," Poczciwinski says.
There's also another old-line name, with a new owner...Mazurek's Bakery. Workforce mentor Ellen Welch says people want products from a bakery going back to 19-33. The First Ward mainstay now belongs to O-L-V Human Services, with a plan, pre-COVID, as a training center.
We have stollens which sell. Placek breads are selling like wildfire. Poppy logs and almond logs are a big thing. We have lamb cakes, cookies, brownies. We have everything you can eat," she says )
It isn't just prepared food. Cristal Desrosiers was running her aunt's store, Spices and Mixes by Millie. That’s another example of the growing local Black entrepreneurial class, like nearby Marge’s Soul Food. The Millie’s purchases probably reflect people working on their cooking during the pandemic.
We're noticing, like, a ton of tea sales. A lot of people are interested in buying like sumac and saffron this year, which is really interesting"
That also applies to a Market standby like Famous Horseradish serving traditional customers a short distance away, including Buffalo-themed apparel
"At its inception, the core of what I wanted to do or accomplish was based on the old product, the old stores, the gone but not forgotten," says Joe Kontrabecki . "There was a niche for that. Certainly, other Buffalo-theme t-shirt and apparel companies out there. Everyone's got their strength. Everyone's got their weakness. But, I did see a void in the market for these older designs.)
On the back wall was an array of logos Kontrabecki could make on the spot, like that of the old Courier-Express newspaper. But, time marches on and Christine Dobosiewicz-Santora was showing that at the Market main entrance, selling the official t-shirts of Monday's Dyngus day, balancing the last two years.
"It’s a little different this year because a lot of the bakeries are gone, a lot of the other things that were here for a long, long time left after the pandemic, since the pandemic, because of the Pandemic," she says.
