By Doug Draper
It is quite rightly billed as the largest garden tour in America. And it is free!
One of the many Buffalo neighbourhood homes that opens its yards to GardenWalk each year. File photo by Doug Draper
But GardenWalk Buffalo, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this Saturday, July 26th and Sunday, July 27th, it is much more than that. It is also an opportunity to experience some of the very best urban landscape and architecture any town or city on this continent on this continent has to offer. That may seem hard to believe for those who continue to embrace a decades-long, bad rap Buffalo, New York has endured as a burned-out, rust belt of a city – an image that is unfortunately reinforced for non-Buffalonians whose exposure to the city has never amounted to much more than the drive around the beltway between the Peace Bridge and the Galleria Mall or the toll booths for the state thruway. Along the way, they pass all the decaying mills, factories and warehouses left over from a century ago when Buffalo was one of the most powerful industrial centres on the continent.
What many of them miss are the grand old neighbourhoods stretching north from the city’s downtown, featuring countless buildings and homes designed and constructed by best architects and builders all of that industrial wealth could buy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They miss the beautiful tree-covered parks, boulevards and traffic circles designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the same landscape architect who played a key role in designing New York City’s iconic Central Park in the 1850s.
All of this is part of the grand urban experience offered each year at GardenWalk Buffalo during the two days that almost 400 homeowners and institution open their lawns and gardens to countless thousands of visitors.
The self-guided tours run between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. both days and, once again, free buses are available to shuttle people between neighbourhoods where the gardens can be found on well-detailed maps available at makeshift headquarters set up for the event.
You can obtain all of the details on where the headquarters and maps are available, and some of the other special events taking place (including a free outdoor concert featuring the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, to celebrate this 20th anniversary, by visiting the GardenWalk website at http://www.gardenwalkbuffalo.com .
All though it is rain or shine, let’s hope we have warm, sunny weather for this one. Maybe we’ll see you there.
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)
