No, not the Allentown in Pennsylvania made popular by the Billy Joel song.  I’m talking about a section of Buffalo, New York, just outside of the downtown area and very near the theater district. 

Yesterday, Al and I headed east in the Prius to attend the Allentown Arts Festival.  We’d gone to this festival once before and were very impressed, but we got there a bit late, it was a sweltering hot day, and we didn’t get to see a whole lot of the festival before the exhibitors started packing up.  But we did go to Anchor Bar for wings that day, so not all was lost. 

Yesterday, however, we arrived on the scene at about noon (the festival started at 11:00 a.m.) parked in a lot about two blocks from the festival (it was the side yard of an automotive business and they charged us $8.00 for the day) and proceeded to the festivities.  And…oh my!  The festival was much bigger than I remembered it being a few years ago.  I don’t know if it’s actually grown since then or not… I’m thinking that we were just so pressed for time on our previous excursion that we just didn’t get to see a lot of it.  There were exhibitors for blocks, and blocks, and blocks.  And I’m not talking about exhibitors selling plastic canvas needlepoint Kleenex box covers.  These were artists and artisans.  There were quite a few photographers selling their prints, watercolorists, sculptors, potters, and painters.  With very few exceptions, all the exhibitors were showcasing very high quality work.

From the shot above, you can’t really get a feel for the throngs of people who were at the festival.  It was taken as we were just entering the festival and hadn’t yet gotten to the first vendor.  The event was packed.  We had to wait in lines to get into some of the vendors’ tents. 

There was a guy there from Brockway, Pennsylvania who makes the most gorgeous Mission style furniture.  Al and I are considering contacting him and taking a drive to his place to get some chairs for our dining room and a table that would look great in they foyer.  I also see from his website that he has bedroom furniture, too.  It seemed to be reasonably priced, especially considering the high quality, and the rocking chairs were so comfortable I didn’t want to get out of it.

And there was another exhibitor I remembered from our last trip…Yardbirds.  Unfortunately, they were sold out of the things I really wanted, but we did purchase this adorable little frog.  He’s now prominently displayed in the Steinfeld Estate Gardens.  And he even has a solar spotlight on him so he’s visible at night.  Because he’s just that cute.

There were also cops there.  I know, not surprising, especially at a festival of this size.  But these cops… were on horses!  Yes, I got to pet horses.  A few of them, as a matter of fact.  And you know I’m all about the critters, no matter what size, so even if the festival had been a  bust (which it most definitely was NOT), I would have been happy about the whole horse thing.  I think it’s also worth noting that all of the officers on horseback were exceptionally pleasant.  And I didn’t see a single one sporting the neo-nazi skinhead look.  Kind of refreshing, it was.

We took a break around 2:30ish to have some lunch.  We were considering getting “festival food” from one of the many food concession stands involved in the festival… until we saw a local restaurant, The Falafel Bar.  We ducked in there for a little lunch and, not only was it delicious (I had the falafel & hummus wrap and Al had chicken souvlaki), the portions were huge and lunch for the two of us, including beverages, was under $16.00.  We would definitely be frequenting that place a lot if we lived there. 

With the exception of about a half an hour we spent sitting and eating in The Falafel Bar, Al and I were walking around the festival the entire time, because there was that much area to cover and that much to see.  At about 5:00 p.m., or just shortly thereafter, we determined that we had walked down every street that had exhibitors. 

The Allentown section of Buffalo is absolutely gorgeous.  The architecture of many of the buildings is seriously something to behold.  Since we knew we were going to be walking quite a bit and possibly carrying purchases, we chose to leave the good camera at home on this trip, which is just as well, because with all the exhibitor tents lining the streets, it would have been difficult to get good shots of the buildings.  However, I think Al and I will be taking a photography excursion back to Allentown at some point this summer or fall.  The area is absolutely breathtaking.  It’s a great mixture of single family homes, apartments, restaurants, and shops.

Of course, I also want to get back to The Darwin Martin House and Graycliff to see what progress has been made since our last visits.  And I’d like to go to another show at Shea’s.  And I’d like to visit the Buffalo Zoo (admission is free if you have a membership to the Erie Zoo). 

Our elected officials need to visit places like the Allentown section of Buffalo.  They need to attend events like the Allentown Arts Festival.*  Seriously.  It’s a 90 minute drive that they need to take.  And while they’re there, taking in the vibrancy, the historic beauty, and the diversity of the area, they need to think how they can encourage and foster that right here in Erie. 

If you want people to stay in Erie, you have to give them something worth staying for.  And if you want businesses to relocate to Erie, you have to show them that we’re someplace their workforce will want to reside.  And if you want any kind of tourist industry, you have to give visitors interesting and unique destinations and beautiful things to see.  Erie has potential, damnit.  Can’t we get our officials, as well as our residents, to work to realizing that potential, instead of, you know, getting all excited about a slots parlor and tire incinerator?

* I think perhaps our former mayor, Rick Filippi, might have had something like this in mind when he change “We Love Erie Days” to “CelebrateErie,” but those days are gone now and the festival has returned to its more carnivalesque roots.  CelebrateErie, how I miss thee.  

June 15th, 2009 | Category: Downtown, Driving, Entertainment, Erie, Travel, Walking | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL