As temperatures rise, and parkas and snow boots are replaced by shorts, T-shirts and sandals, spring and summer activities in Buffalo are gearing up to begin full swing.
Warm weather offers a variety of events and activities around Buffalo in late spring and throughout the summer.
The Allentown Art Festival, held during the second full weekend in June, is something some art lovers in Western New York are looking forward to.
"It's an art festival in mid-summer, they usually just display art, people can walk around and look there's also food," said Shaun Harrington, a junior communication major, who attends many summer events in Buffalo. "There's plenty to do in Buffalo, not really just in Buffalo, but in the surrounding areas."
According to the bicentennial section of the Library of Congress Web site, the Allentown Art Festival, which was founded in 1957 by a group of business owners, residents, working artists and craft persons, is "one of the country's largest and most respected outdoor arts and craft shows."
Festivals are plentiful in Buffalo during the summer, with the "Taste of Buffalo" - the second largest culinary festival in the country according to Yahoo!.com - showcasing food from 50 participating restaurants and serving up to 150 delicacies, "from Buffalo wings to Polish sausages."
"It's in downtown Buffalo, you go down there and you can eat from any restaurant," Harrington said. "All the local restaurants set up stands, you buy tickets as if you were going to a carnival and getting on a ride, but you use those tickets to buy food."
Margaret Thompson, a regular street performer at the Taste of Buffalo, said it is only natural for the food festival to attract so many people from the area.
"After all, we're known all over the country as a fat city," said Thompson.
For the theater lovers in Buffalo, the Shakespeare in Delaware Park festival holds two plays each summer around the Delaware Park Casino area. Though donations are encouraged, the festival is free and most patrons bring picnic dinners and drinks to the productions, along with blankets and beach chairs.
Other Buffalo festivals during the warmer months include the Hertel Avenue Italian Festival in July, which combines music, artifacts, carnival rides and games, and a lot of Italian food.
Harrington said the Italian Festival showcases "all the Italian food from Buffalo."
For those who enjoy live music, The Artvoice Music Festival, held in downtown Buffalo, provides venues for band performances.
In addition to festivals and concerts, Buffalo has its share of activities on the shores of Lake Erie and the Niagara River.
"I like to rollerblade, bicycle, run and work out," Harrington said. "Niagara River walks are nice for rollerblading."
Harrington said the Six Flags Darien Lake amusement park serves as a good place to pass the summer days.
"Couple times a year I go there for the roller coasters," Harrington said. "They have good concerts there in the summer that you can go and check out. They also have Six Flags down there."
Though summers in Buffalo have much to offer to food, art, music, theater and festival lovers, some students say they prefer to find summer enjoyment elsewhere.
"I don't live in the Buffalo area, I don't try to stay in the Buffalo area, I just go to school and go home," Sonya Sampson, a sophomore economics major, said. "I don't find Buffalo attractive; it's depressing, off campus is dead; there's a lot of abandoned buildings - it's just not pretty. Plus the people don't act inviting, so you tend to go where you're welcomed."
With the hurrying-indoors-to-escape-the-cold winter weather ending, Karthik Thyagarajan, an industrial engineering graduate student, said he and his friends plan to participate in outdoor activities.
"We play games when it gets warm," Thyagarajan said. "We play cricket, soccer and badminton; we're glad when the warm weather comes."
Harrington also has outdoor adventures planned.
"I go to the Sunset Beach Club, it's a club right on the beach," he said. "I like to jump off cliffs and bridges into water - real high ones."
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
