If you've ever had a drink at Founding Fathers Pub, then you know that it's almost impossible to escape being thrown a trivia challenge. Out of the blue, from the tender's side of the bar, Mike Driscoll will suddenly test your wits with a zinger designed to make you squirm in your barstool. Most of Mike's questions are based on worldwide knowledge of any and all subject matter. The bar has reached cult status for its trivia and Mike's followers are many. 
Now Buffalo First! is going to mix it up in a way that will keep people guessing on many different levels...
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Posted by Mike Farrell:
This past Sunday, displaced Buffalonians in cities such as Chicago, Seattle, Boston, Charlotte, Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale, Washington, D.C., and Manhattan gathered at tavern tables, stared at flat screen television sets, and engaged in a pastime that's become as comforting as a Bills win (albeit amid a Bills loss). Over an afternoon full of Labatt pitchers and plates of chicken wings, they talked about how much they miss Buffalo--and how they wish they could

With the colder weather returning to Buffalo, the once seemingly ubiquitous 5K races are not as common as they were during the summer. With the end of Daylight Savings Time, most of those races are held on weekends.  One of the most interesting of the winter races is the Reindeer Run, which is being held on Saturday, December 3rd.
The popular annual 5K race has a great course that takes you through the streets of north Buffalo and Forest Lawn Cemetery. At the end there'll be a post-race part on the Medaille College Buffalo campus, with refreshments and free

Buffalo Niagara 360 is hosting a Kickoff Celebration for young professionals on November 15th at the Larkin Center of Commerce.  As a part of the program, ten Spotlight Professionals will be unveiled as Buffalo Niagara's Ones To Watch, and Buffalo Rising is teaming with Buffalo Niagara 360 to preview some of these promising young leaders before the event.  
Buffalo Niagara 360 offers young professionals opportunities in leadership development, networking

Plans to open the Heritage Discovery Center will be detailed this week. The Center highlights the rich transportation and industrial heritage of the region. Located in South Buffalo, the historic building will be home to the Western New York Railway Historical Society as well as the permanent location of the Steel Plant Museum, which is relocating from Lackawanna. The ceremony takes place on November 10 at 2pm on the site and there will be a formal dedication of

A couple of weeks ago I told you about a sweet new culinary shop coming to Elmwood called Tuscany on Main. Since that time I have also learned about a second culinary destination opening next door (in the former Tabree location), which will be called Nickel City Cheese and Mercantile (NCCM). The opening of this shop rings a couple of familiar bells, and brings the urban culinary scene full circle in a myriad ways. The owner of this cheese business, Jill Forster, has just moved back to Buffalo after being away for 20 years

By J.S.Cook:
The sun is just beginning to warm the late morning air as a crowd gathers on the corner of High and Ellicott Streets. Amidst the embraces, handshakes and jovial conversations growing on this small corner of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, camera crews set up tripods and test equipment.
They have all come to dedicate the 8ft tree that now rises from a concrete pedestal above the crowd. The first of many permanent public art installations that the Buffalo Renaissance Foundation hopes to fertilize throughout the city

The West Side Bazaar is coming to Elmwood this holiday season. This past summer was a good one for Grant Street, as it marked the opening of an artisan market featuring goods from all over the world. Many refugees living on the city's West Side supply the merchandise for the market, and in turn they learn how to operate a kiosk within the space. The bazaar is an incubator of sorts, giving the public an eye into the lives of the refugees while giving the refugees life lessons that

Letter to the editor:
I recently read a letter to the editor on this site (Buffalo Rising) about why to join Occupy Buffalo. I find myself in a very similar position, and would like to write an alternate view.
I am also 22 years old, and have just graduated with an Aerospace Engineering degree. This degree has extremely high market value. According to the Wall Street Journal just this week, the unemployment rate among this degree is a measly 3.8%, with

WGRZ did an "investigation" on the conditions of Main Street's 500 block.  What the report found were a number of vacant storefronts, no fines levied by the City for building conditions, some Hyatt guests and hotel managers saying the block is a disgrace, and a call for the City to use eminent domain to assemble the individual properties for large-scale development. 

From WGRZ:

The results of our two-month investigation indicate that, while the city has made some progress downtown in recent months, in the last five years, it has not fined any of the owners of the

This month, our writing group talks about how Buffalo influences our writing--both directly and indirectly.  This discussion began as an argument about whether living in Buffalo, i.e. having a Buffalo return address on your SASE, was a detriment.  Melody VonSmith admitted to keeping her 818 area code after moving back because she felt people didn't take her seriously.  Turns out this was based in something:
Melody VonSmith: I was told in a rejection letter that

Letter to the Editor:
I first encountered the Occupy Buffalo encampment which consisted of a handful of people with tents parked in Niagara Square in front of City Hall one month ago. I lost my job as a busboy that paid $330 a week and am now working three to six hours a week at a warehouse unloading paper from trucks. 
I am 22 years old and I am sleeping in my childhood bedroom in my parents' home because I am underemployed. I make between $40-$60 a week temping at a paper company and cannot afford to rent my own place. This

Last week Congressman Higgins and Senator Schumer visited and praised the recently completed Federal Courthouse on Niagara Square. The building was opened for a media and elected officials tour before the official debut on November 28.

With a magnificent glass façade and a gracefully curved glass curtain wall, the courthouse is a contrast to the

By Kelsey Hanks:
Buffalo Niagara 360 is hosting a Kickoff Celebration for young professionals on November 15th at the Larkin Center of Commerce.  As a part of the program, ten Spotlight Professionals will be unveiled as Buffalo Niagara's Ones To Watch, and Buffalo Rising is teaming with Buffalo Niagara 360 to preview some of these promising young leaders before the event.  
Buffalo Niagara 360 offers young professionals opportunities

During a recent conversation with someone who had just moved to Buffalo, she told me something that I found refreshing. She said that she had lived in a lot of different cities, but she had never seen so much pride when it came to people wearing local t-shirts, applying stickers on cars and buying and selling Buffalo products. That got me thinking about a fun way to market Buffalo in a way that I believe could help market our city in a very inexpensive and subtle way. 
Why not give locals the option of obtaining a cool blue Buffalo license plate for an extra

I love this idea. Sugar City, one of the city's leading cultural catalysts, would like to enlist you to participate in a creative building exercise that also has a funding mechanism in place. No, this project is not going to raise millions of dollars for silver bullet projects (that never come to fruition anyways)... rather these are the integral community building projects that tend to strengthen neighborhoods. 
The premise behind Sugar City's Sunday Soup starts with you emailing your ideas, which are due by November 11

Our fledgling little West Side book store, West Side Stories, is growing up and your invited to take part in the growth. I'm not talking about increased book stock exactly, I'm talking about community programming and extended hours. This is not just a good sign that the business is growing in the right ways, it reflects a mission that was recently discusses on Buffalo Rising - increased operational hours. From Joe Petri at West Side Stories:
Westside Stories started a weekly singer/songwriter

An incredible amount of craftsmanship has been going in the Hotel Lafayette during its restoration. Rocco Termini has left no stone unturned in his search for the best in the business to help transform the downtown gem. Each day there are over 200 people installing new infrastructure, tediously restoring the scagliola along Peacock Alley, and replicating original architectural features.  The Lafayette Square landmark is being turned into a mix of restaurant, retail,

Doubling up on the Buffalo media mentions (see last week), Toronto theater critic Richard Ouzounian recently descended upon six urban eateries, and is spreading the good word that Buffalo is more than just a great place to grab wings. He started with Sample in Allentown, Buffalo's favorite small plate restaurant with a simple modern decor. From there he headed to Organic 3 Cafe, one of the newer Elmwood Village hotspots

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Buffalo Urban Development Corporation, the City of Buffalo and Erie County this past week celebrated the completion of Ship Canal Commons, a 22-acre waterfront park. The new, public green space is an amenity for the existing business park, developed as part of the successful brownfield remediation project along Union Ship Canal at Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park.

Ship