The Blog

I’ve been putting the Second Saturday at the Foundry events on the GrowWNY Community Calendar for a while now, and each event entry built up my anticipation for finally attending the event. Well, this past weekend, I went to my first Second Saturday, and it did not disappoint! The Foundry’s website describes how the building is a multifaceted community center that comes to life with local flair. On the second Saturday of every month, the Foundry is full of local artisans, vendors, artists and more!

We are stepping just a bit outside of Western New York for this week’s Feature Friday; about 3,500 miles to be exact. I joined the GrowWNY team over the summer right as we were launching the Go Outside map and quickly realized how many great places in WNY that I was missing out on. The map came in handy when I had a last minute offer from a friend to join her on a trip to Peru to hike the Inca Trail and end at Machu Picchu on New Year’s Day. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, but I was not a hiker, and neither was my friend. So I checked the GrowWNY Community calendar back in September to see where we could go on some practice hikes. I joined a group hike put on by Earth Spirit Education at Franklin Gulf Park. I had never even heard of Franklin Gulf Park but what an amazing place we found it to be. It was like discovering a hidden gem in Buffalo with a lot of history. In fact, I went back to hike it the next two weekends to start building up my stamina and test out different clothing.  Knowing that I would have to be doing some serious climbing (at a high altitude), I headed out to Chesnut Ridge Park to climb up and down some of the hills and try to “up” my mileage by doing the long loops a few times. I was ready for the Inca Trail, or so I thought.

One of the first times I looked over the Go Outside Map, I was a little shocked that Forest Lawn Cemetery was listed. Aren’t cemeteries a place of final resting? I’ve always thought that you only go to the cemetery to visit and maintain your loved ones graves, so the idea of sending people there to run, walk, bird watch and more seemed strange. Noticing my apprehension towards trekking Forest Lawn, my team assigned me to write its Feature Friday piece. They assured me that this cemetery was designed for both the dead and the living, and they were right.

In case you didn’t know it, December 26 is Thank You Note Day! It seemed fitting to inspire our green fans to make their own thank you notes on this day. Think of all the paper that accumulates around your house, especially around the holidays. There are post-it notes, shopping lists, printed directions to a holiday party, and not to mention wrapping paper! Reuse them in any way you see fit.