This Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer in Western New York and Canalside in downtown Buffalo is expected to be a popular destination.
From land that’s lain fallow and neglected for decades, the downtown waterfront is being reborn, and people have noticed.
425 events are scheduled at Canalside through October. Nearly all of them are free. A schedule is available at http://www.eriecanalharbor.com/events.asp.
"There will be something to do every day between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day," said Thomas Dee, President and CEO of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, the state agency that is overseeing the downtown waterfront's transformation.
Last year, more than 400,000 people came downtown to see what Canalside was all about. Dee and others expect that figure grow sharply this season.
"The excitement is palpable. You see thousands of people using the Outer Harbor, thousands of people enjoying the Erie Basin Marina, [and] thousands of people enjoying Canalside. This is real, Buffalo,” Rep. Brian Higgins said.
