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Grand Island gives Gus Macker OK to proceed

WBFO file photo

By a 3 to 1 vote, the Grand Island Town Board has given organizers conditional approval to move forward with next month's Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament.

The vote came Wednesday morning following a board meeting with the local promoter for the Gus Macker tournament, Corey McGowan, who in recent weeks scrambled to secure new security after the original plan to employ town police and Erie County Sheriff's Deputies fell through.

McGowan, a Grand Island native, says the tournament is ideal for his hometown.

"Being a suburb like this, a community-based tournament, it fits what Gus Macker is all about," he said. "It lines up similar to other New York tournaments like Hornell, Norwich, Olean, just small-town tournaments."

But he also acknowledged that the Grand Island event can also draw teams from larger cities such as Niagara Falls and Buffalo.

The tournament, which will be held August 29 and 30, will require the shutdown of Grand Island Boulevard to traffic between Whitehaven and Baseline Roads. Businesses along that stretch, McGowan said, will not be interrupted because there will still be access through other entrances.

The Gus Macker Tournament returns to the Buffalo area after being held last year at Darien Lake. For many years prior, it was hosted in downtown Buffalo.

Michael Mroziak is an experienced, award-winning reporter whose career includes work in broadcast and print media. When he joined the WBFO news staff in April 2015, it was a return to both the radio station and to Horizons Plaza.
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