Unsung Advocate Leads the Way

"I've been going to Buffalo for four or five years.  It's an amazing place," Roberta Lane of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Boston office told the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance's not so sure Maggie Stier.  So Maggie, who I encountered on the Roycroft Campus, came to see for herself, and like Roberta, left a believer.  Even our weather enthused Shelly King-Davis of Yosemite, California, saying while exiting Shea's (Performing Arts Center) after the Trust's opening plenary, "You've got these amazing gray cloud formations, then you get a little sun, and then some rain."  Two days later, Shelly and her partner John Lytle, who came for twelve days,  proclaiming "We decided we were going to get to really know Buffalo," were still singing the area's praises, even after getting soaked at Graycliff, calling it "Spectacular--even in the rain."

Yet according to Bob Skerker, Preservation Buffalo Niagara's conference co-chair, this amazement would not have been possible without the efforts of one Dennis Galucki.  Speaking the week prior to the conference, in his opening remarks Mr. Skerker said,"I want to thank Dennis, without whom this conference would not be happening."  He continued saying, "In 2005, at the Trust's Portland conference, Dennis approached Richard Moe (the Trust's then president) and asked "What would it take to bring this conference to Buffalo?"

"Give me a good reason," Mr. Moe replied.

"I'll do the best I can," said Galucki, whose "best" idea was to stimulate enough interest and enthusiasm to reach what he called a "critical mass" of twenty people to attend the Trust's 2006 Pittsburgh conference. 

With the Chicago Architecture Foundation as a model, and now asking "Why wouldn't we want this conference to come to Buffalo?" as the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier's director, Galucki invited CAF (Chicago Architecture Foundation) President and former BPO General Manager Lynn Osmond to a 2006 Saturn Club luncheon.  Speaking to what she called an "engaged audience" on the value of "repositioning Buffalo as a hub for architectural heritage and tourism," Ms. Osmond emphasized it was "a goal worth pursuing," and said "Dennis was leading the charge."

With interest and awareness rising, including that of Visit Buffalo Niagara, a "critical mass" of twenty area attendees to the Trust's 2006 Pittsburgh conference was reached, with Visit's Vice-President of Marketing Ed Healy saying Mr. Galucki is "personally committed to preservation, an outspoken advocate," and as one of four signatories to Visit's March 7, 2007 official bid to the Trust, Healy further termed him "an instrumental figure in a group of committed citizens."

Stepping aside after the National Trust's announcement that its 2011 conference was coming to Buffalo, and as the Landmark Society and the Preservation Coalition of Erie County became Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Galucki then founded the Center for the Study of Art, Architecture, History and Nature.  Borrowing a concept gleaned from visits to the Chautauqua Institution, where events of all sorts go on throughout the day, and people come and go as they wish, Galucki approached the Buffalo & Erie County Library with his program idea.  Called Imagining Buffalo Niagara in the 21st Century, lectures are held in the Central Library's Ring of Knowledge, and "Fits right into what we think a library ought to be doing," says Central's Anne Conable, adding Galucki is "A natural born educator, one of the early pioneers in working on, and promoting cultural tourism." 

His initiatives have extended beyond the immediate area to Chautauqua, with Mr. Galucki convincing Institution officials and co-sponsors The Buffalo News and WNED to proclaim one summer day, Buffalo Day at Chautauqua, and is instrumental in arranging programming with a Buffalo slant on Buffalo Day.

But when the bidding ball to the National Trust began rolling, speaking of Galucki, one local organizer said "He's very peripatetic.  He didn't have email, he didn't have a cellphone, so you couldn't get a hold of him.  He rides his bike (to events and meetings).  He's very passionate, but he tends to go his own way.  So a lot of people don't want to follow him." 

While unquestionably there were an untold number of advocates, funders, staff people, and volunteers that contributed to making the 2011 National Trust for Historic Preservation's Buffalo conference a tremendous success.  But knowing several, and admiring even more of those unorthodox, unconventional, peripatetic (Meaning of or relating to Aristotle who conducted discussions while walking about, as Galucki sometimes does.) people, it's apparent the entire region benefitted from the 2500 plus people who did follow the man who dared ask "What would it take to bring this conference to Buffalo?"

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