A Quintessential Buffalo Rising Moment
On my way into the Albright-Knox Art Gallery the other day, I encountered a gentleman having some difficulty with the parking machine.
I stopped to help, and then, detecting his southern accent, asked where he was from. Seems he and his carload of companions were from North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. They said they were up for the Shaw Festival.
"For the weekend?" I asked.
"Oh, no. About 10 days, we've been in Buffalo the past two," he answered.
They explained that they were touring the Frank Lloyd Wright houses, and had come to the Knox for two specific paintings. "The Gaughan that's on loan to you, but especially the Frederick Childe Hassam (below). Just spectacular," one of the women said.
"So...what else have you seen?" I asked.
"Well, we tried to get in the Burchfield, but it's closed...and we want to visit the Olmsted Park," she answered.
"The Olmsted Park?" I asked. "Which one?"
"Well, as many as we can, but we really want to see Forest Lawn," she said.
"Have you been to the Historical Society?"
"Well, no but..."
"They have a beautiful Japanese garden," I said.
"Oh!" she said, "don't tell me that."
"Or you can visit it when you come back to see the Burchfield," I teased. "One last thing," I said, "and then we'll stop holding up traffic. Do you think the locals know what they have here?"
"You couldn't possibly," she answered. "It's all just so amazing."
Some of us do, and the others will come along, but it's always nice to hear out of the mouths of visitors.
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buffawakening
Its so true. buffalo has so many hidden jewels even locals dont know about. i am only 18... and i thought this past summer i would explore the area as much as i could before i went off to Albany for college. i got my guide... the tourism guide for buffalo niagara 2008, and my family joked why would i need a tourist guide when i have lived here for 18 years, and that if i wanted a guide i should just look to them. but neither my family nor I could believe all the things we have never known about , heard about, or attended. the festivals, museums, and odds and ends that make Buffalo Buffalo. Needless to say... i only scratched, if not touched the surface off all there is to do in buffalo. and now whenever friends utter the infamous "there is nothing to do in this town" i hand them the book and watch their amazement.
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pegger
How is it that they had only a chance encounter to gain valuable information?
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Einstein
Buffawakening - You are correct that these are hidden jewels.
Why isn't the Buffalo Niagara Visitor's guide available at every hotel, AAA, rest stop, and attraction in the area? You really have to hunt for it when you are at the airport, the information counter on the first floor does not have them available for pick-up, you have to ask for it.
Why don't we have a comprehensive map of attractions for Buffalo, like they have in other cities (Chicago, St. Louis, Boston, Dayton, etc)? We should have a map of architectural attractions, one for arts and galleries, another for the underground railroad sites, etc. All we offer visitors is a map of the area, it is up to them to figure out that a visit to Fisher-Price's kids museum is an hour away from the Albright-Knox museum. Why not put these on the map to make it easy for our visitors?
I think that this is far more important information than an expose on Cynthia Van Ness' love for Victorian Homes, or Drew Cerra's wing festival. Why not take their opinions and expand on them, so Cynthia could offer her 10 greatest Victorian masterpieces, or Drew could offer the 10 best places for wings in the city.
I like the guide, but there is so much more that we can, and should do if we want to promote tourism in this area.
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buffawakening
einstein- i completely agree. in fact i had to get my copy of the guide online... i had to order it. your ideas for expanding and bettering the guide are great... the guide does currently break up architecture, history, art and others into one page introductions, but nothing beyond that. your idea for seperate maps is fantastic.
It is really a shame that many buffalonians (including myself until this year) dont know what wonders we have.
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PaulBuffalo
I agree that western New York could do a lot more to make the area user-friendly. If you're targeting the over-50 crowd, you need conveniently-placed tourist centers that can be easily seen and accessed by travelers. In addition, my continuing gripe is the lack of signage to point folks in the right direction. Will that ever happen?
With that said, the internet -- just visit Yahoo Travel or Yelp -- certainly has a lot of information on Buffalo. Most under-50 folks that I know aren't getting their travel information from any city's visitor guides. When not relying on their laptops or web-enabled cell phones, they're using Lonely Planet or Let's Go guides.
If you want to publicize western New York to the world, get on Yelp and start contributing.
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allfit
I agree with all of the above comments, we need to do more for our visitors. Paul and Einstein have excellent ideas, but let's keep in mind that many of our under 50 crowd wind up here for business or conventions. They may not be traveling with the intention of sightseeing, but may change their mind based on brochures in the hotel rooms.
I am confident that this will turn into a debate about the bed tax and how limited the BNCVB is, how hard Ed Healy and his staff work, and how we can blame everyone except the Buffalo Niagara Convention and Visitors Bureau for not reaching out to visitors more.
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jibo
Fortunately there is a really well put together hard cover guide that is in almost every hotel in WNY. It's called WELCOME Magazine. I've seen it in hotel rooms here and they were even giving away copies at the Elmwood Art Festival. I was amazed that the area had anything as nice as it is. I don't know about the CVB guide but I think it must be supported by advertising.If I had a business or some kind of attraction I think I'd find out about getting into that book. Elmwood has a big section and even the Towne and Alton's look good. I checked out their web site and it's got a lot of good information about the area. It would be great if more locals saw it but at least all the people at hotels do.
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Sitler
Hello! I'm Doug Sitler, Communications Manager of the Buffalo Niagara CVB. I have some information that should help clarify people's thoughts on this story.
The folks profiled in this post did in fact find their way to the Visitors Center in the Market Arcade last week. They received a warm welcome to Buffalo, watched a few promotional videos, picked up visitor guides and went happily on their way. Their itinerary was not left to chance and they received the kind of welcome and information that should make most residents proud.
Regarding the distribution of the visitors guide: The Buffalo Niagara CVB printed and distributed more than 300,000 copies of the guide in 2008. In addition to New York State Thruway rest stops and visitor centers, copies can be found in information booths, rest stops, AAA offices, and CAA offices throughout the Northeast, Midwest and Ontario. Locally, the guides can be found everywhere from the Roycroft Copper Shop to the Anchor Bar to the Albright-Knox to the Niagara Falls State Park Information Center. Many locations also carry the CVB’s map pad. Tens of thousands of copies of both printed pieces have been distributed locally this year.
One more thing: most travelers use the web to research and plan travel. Nearly 40,000 unique visitors per month visit the CVB’s wrightnowinbuffalo.com and visitbuffaloniagara.com web sites. A digitized version of the visitors guide can be found on the visitbuffaloniagara.com site and a downloadable PDF version on wrightnow.
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ECB
Doug,
You're who our new southern friends must have been talking about when they said they enjoyed great hospitality here.
Locals need to duck into the Market Arcade and see for themselves. I can't tell you how many (local!) people I've brought to Fera's Restaurant, and they're always awestruck when we stop in the Visitor's Center on the way and they see the pamphlets and the crazy miniature theater.
The kiosk at the marina this summer was a hit, too. Keep up the good work. This makes me think we need a CVB story soon.
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dpbflo
thats great! I love running into out of towners.. by the time I am done talking about all Buffalo has to offer they are ready for a nap!
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