Greetings Fellow Urban Explorers
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Congratulations are in order to all of us. We have not only survived the presidential election, but the Winter Solstice and all related year end celebrations. Now we gear up for yet another spin around the sun. Bundle up folks global warming is chilling.
It's hard to remember all the negativity that was so pervasive in Buffalo and the Niagara frontier not that long ago. But there has been a dramatic shift in our perception. That's exactly what happens when you stop wallowing in the problems of life and begin living in the possibility of it. Sort of like staring at the half empty glass wishing you had more, or drinking the full half, then refilling it to the brim, again and again.
These days thousands gather to recreate in what were once abandoned structures or vacant parking lots. Families and friends from near and far, now converge at scores of new dining destinations, breweries, distilleries and festivals of every shape and size imaginable in virtually every part of town all year long.
What was it that finally flipped the switch from extinction to expansion? Well, one of the key factors was something that we here at Forgotten Buffalo have known for a long time, our history.
The city of Buffalo and surrounding areas are like a living breathing museum of Americas story. Immigration, innovation, fabrication, transportation...all happened here in our backyard. Finally a whole new generation came of age and realized that the answer was not a sporting goods store downtown, a train that goes up and down one street or yet another mall. Like Glinda told Dorothy in the Emerald City, "you've always had the power". Rather than run from our past we now embrace it.
So whether you yell to hear your echo inside a cavernous grain silo, pose next to a statue of a little girl with a dorsal fin, groove to a jam band in the shadow of an old warehouse while waiting to consume a taco from a truck, spank the object of your affection with a pussywillow branch, paddle a kayak on a creek or ride a bike on ice, lets not run from the past, lets click our heels and celebrate our collective reawakening as we move forward.
Happy New Year,
Forgotten Buffalo
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