Sponsored Activities and Local Buffalo Attractions
Sponsored Activities
NeMLA Sponsored Local Activities
Annette Magid, Local Representative,
has organized the following group activities to enhance your experience
of Buffalo. Conference registrants and their guests are eligible to
attend.
Thursday, April 10th
University of Buffalo Poetry & Rare Book Room
Lecture: “History, Evolution
& Application of a Twentieth Century Archive of Poetry,” presented
by Michael Basinski, Ph.D., Curator of Poetry & Rare Book Collection.
Poetry
& Rare Book Room at the University of Buffalo houses the premier
collection of first edition collections of poetry dating from 1900.
Manuscripts of James Joyce, William Carlos Williams, Dylan Thomas, Robert
Duncan are housed there as well. The Curator will have some of the “jewels”
of the rare book collection in display cases for your viewing.
Time: Leave from Hyatt at 4:00 p.m. and return 6:30 p.m.
(Bus transportation provided by SUNY Buffalo)
Fee: $2.50
Reserve by 2/15/08:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=142924
The Road Less Traveled Theater:
Humpty Dumpty
Play by Eric Bogosian. Directed
by Scott Behrend.
Premier Performance at 639 Main Street (inside Market Arcade Film and
Arts Center, 1 block from Hyatt)
A group of yuppies on holiday
get a fron row seat to the end of civilation in this savage comedy/thriller
from renowned playwright/actor Eric Bogosian (Talk Radio, “Law &
Order: Criminal Intent”).
Curtain time: 8:00 p.m.
Fee: $22.50/ticket [Conference rate]
Reserve by 2/15/08:
: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=142924
Saturday, April 12
Niagara Falls Evening Tour (American Side)
Niagara Falls--one of the Seven Wonders of the World. In the evening,
various colored lights are beamed on the Falls for a spectacular view.
A tour guide is part of the trip and s/he will explain the history of
the Falls as well any other questions related to the falls and the Power
Grid.
Time: Bus leaves from
Hyatt at 9:00 p.m. and return 12:00 a.m.
Fee: $13.50 Reserve by 2/15/08:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=142924
Sunday, April 13th 1:00 p.m.
The Mark Twain Room at the
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library
The downtown Central Library houses the Mark Twain Room, keeper of hundreds
of Twain’s publications (including many first editions and various
translations) and, most importantly, the author’s original manuscript
of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, part of which he inked while
residing in Buffalo. The event will include a lecture by Neil Schmitz,
UB Twain scholar.
Time: Leave from Hyatt at 1:00 p.m. and return 2:30 p.m.
Fee: Free
Reserve by 2/15/08:
send email to Nemlasupport@gmail.com with
“Twain Tour” in subject line, specifying names of those attending
tour
Tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin Martin House
Buffalo boasts the world’s second largest concentration of structures
designed by “America’s greatest architect”
Frank Lloyd Wright. At the heart of the Wright oeuvre lays the Darwin
D. Martin Complex, originally an ensemble of four houses, a pergola,
and a conservatory designed and constructed around the turn of the twentieth
century. The Complex, situated in the city’s Parkside neighborhood
(designed in the 1870s as part of Buffalo’s system of parks and parkways
by America’s best known landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead),
constitutes one of Wright’s finest works from his Prairie School era.
It was his first design to incorporate a diversity of built structures
and sculpted grounds and remains among the most critically acclaimed
of his works today.
Time: Leave from Hyatt at 1:00 p.m. and return 2:30 p.m.
Fee: $26.50
Reserve by 2/15/08:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=142924
Other Suggested Activities
Buffalo: A Community of International Attractions
Buffalo, a city burned by the
British in the War of 1812 and rebuilt into a leading player in the
Industrial Revolution, boasts a wealth of historical sites, but this
all-American community also contains attractions of an international
character. Buffalo is the largest city in the vicinity of Niagra Falls,
and thousands of visitors bus in from Buffalo to view the largest waterfall
in North America. Without leaving Buffalo, visitors can also catch a
glimpse of an internationally acclaimed art treasure; in front of the
Albright-Knox Art Gallery stands one of the only two bronze castings
ever taken from Michelangelo’s David. Whether you prefer sights
steeped in local tradition or a more cosmopolitan experience, Buffalo
has something for everyone to see!
Albright- Knox Art Gallery
www.albrightknox.org ($10)
Overlooking Frederick Law Olmstead’s
Delaware Park and Hoyt Lake, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery is one of
America’s oldest public visual arts organizations. Its halls feature
world-renowned masterpieces such as Gaugin’s The Yellow Christ
and Spirit of the Dead Watching, as well as cutting edge post-modern
and contemporary works, such as Warhol’s 100 Cans,
Lichtenstein’s Head—Red and Yellow, and Viola’s The
Messenger.
City Hall
65 Niagara Square (4 blocks
from Hyatt) http://preserve.bfn.org/bam/bflobest/city/city.html (free)
The people of Buffalo have
come to adopt two unofficial symbols. One is an animal (the bison, of
course), the other is a building: City Hall. Soaring, colorful, and
tough, it has become part of the city's psyche. Much of the emotional
impact of the building is due to its Art Deco
styling.
Free weekday tours start in
the City Hall lobby: Noon to 1 PM
Allentown
www.allenstreet.com
Located between Downtown, the
Lower West Side, and the Elmwood Village, Allentown is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. A blend of bohemian, artistic,
queer, and high cultures makes Allentown an essential stop for anyone
visiting Buffalo.
Buffalo and Erie County
Botanical Gardens
www.buffalogardens.com ($6)
Designed by the prestigious
greenhouse firm Lord and Burnham in the 1890s, the Buffalo and Erie
County Botanical Gardens remains one of only two tri-domed greenhouses
in the country. Modeled after the Crystal Palace in London, the greenhouse
that encompasses the Botanical Gardens is one of about 10 Victorian-era
conservatories still standing in the United States.
Our Lady of Victory Basilica
and National Shrine
http://www.ourladyofvictory.org/Basilica/Welcome.html (free)
Not far from the Gardens is
the extraordinary basilica and national shrine Pope Pius XI in 1926
dubbed “one of the greatest [...] among the churches of America.”
The Baroque-style white-marble church presents an impressive exterior,
inspired by Saint Peter’s in Rome and, at the time of its construction,
possessing the second-largest dome of any structure in the United States.
Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society
www.bechs.org (free)
Housed in the only remaining
structure of Buffalo’s infamous 1901 Pan-American Exhibition (at which
U.S. President William McKinley was assassinated), the Historical Society
holds over 20,000 books, 200,000 photographs, and 2,000 manuscript collections
on all facets of Western New York history and culture.
Tiff Nature Preserve
http://www.sciencebuff.org/tifft_nature_preserve.php ($7)
Just three miles from downtown
Buffalo on the Lake Erie shoreline, this unique urban nature reserve
offers 265 acres of trails, boardwalks and a 75-acre marsh, a perfect
environment for bird-watching and hiking.
Michigan Street Baptist
Church
http://www.nyhistory.com/mspa/
The congregation that became
known as the Michigan Street Baptist church was formally organized between
1832 and 1837, and since then it has been a central part of the history
and culture of Buffalo's African American community. Abolitionist speakers
such as Frederick Douglass spoke here, and it is Buffalo’s best known
Underground Railroad site and is listed on the National Register of
Historic Places.
