Annual black-tie event
BPO Gala
September, Kleinhans Music Hall, 71 Symphony Circle www.bpo.org
Far too many galas in WNY take place in hotels that have (possibly) seen better days, but this one is the crème de la crème: cocktails, dinner, and a concert in an architectural masterpiece. Those concerts, by the way, feature the likes of Itzhak Perlman and Van Cliburn.
Most exciting free summer event
Garden Walk
Last full weekend of July www.gardenwalkbuffalo.com
You’ve seen the crowds, read the national coverage, and heard about its impact on neighborhoods—but do you realize most events of its kind in cities and suburbs around the country charge admission?
Public party venue
Artpark
450 South Fourth St., Lewiston, 754-4375 www.artpark.net
Sunset on the Niagara Escarpment with a nice, cheap drink in your hand and the latest in a steady string of free and low-cost acts: summer doesn’t get any cooler.


State politician
None of the above
The tribe has spoken; there is no one on the scene right now who deserves this award.


City/county politician
David Rivera
This Common Council member will listen to you and try to address your issues even if you don’t live in his district. 

Person you wish would run for office
Harvey Garrett
Or perhaps not. Immersion in the cesspool that is WNY’s political scene seems to paralyze even the best and brightest, but if there’s anyone we’d love to see float to the top, it would be Harvey.
Most innovative developer
City View Properties
726 Exchange St., Suite 600, 856-8400
www.cityviewbuffalo.com
First Howard Zemsky, Doug Swift, and cohorts fashioned the handsome and imposing Larkin Building on Exchange Street out of an old warehouse. Now they have taken on the long-neglected but rich-with-potential 100 block of Genesee. Buffalo’s oldest intact commercial strip will rise again!


Biggest unsung hero of WNY
Diane Picard
The creator and driving force behind the Growing Green program of the Massachusetts Avenue Project since 2003 (and the parent organization’s executive director as of this winter) puts the young people she serves and the program’s vision first, so you don’t hear much about her in the media—but she’s a force of, er, nature.


Favorite local power couple
Robert and Mary Kresse
Robert is the secretary of the Wendt Foundation, a generous and reliable source of nonprofit funding, while Mary’s a longtime supporter of Buffalo’s parks and gardens. Both are indefatigable volunteers who personify public service in WNY.


Radio DJ or talk show host
Kevin Hardwick / WBEN Sundays at noon
Hardwick must have felt just slightly uneasy hosting a civilized political talkshow on a station personified by braying idiocy at almost all other times, but he did it, and did it well. (As we went to press, Hardwick announced he was leaving the show to run for a seat on the County Legislature. Um, good luck!)


Writer, print
Mark Sommer, The Buffalo News
His track record is impressive, and his range of subject matter even more so; “he’s just a damn good writer,” as one of our panelists succinctly put it.

Writer, online
Alan Bedenko
www.buffalopundit.com
Buffalo Pundit isn’t always a literary masterpiece, but the political writing is the sharpest and funniest you’ll find in the WNY blogosphere. As BP would say: spot on!
Way to find out what’s happening around town
I’m Going if Gordo’s Going
Yeah, we know Artvoice and Gusto are far more comprehensive than this Facebook group, but honestly now—do you really want to bother with any event not personally endorsed by bon vivant Gordon Ballard?

Best Buffalo ambassador
During the first episode of the most recent season of America’s Next Top Model, a young Buffalonian named Angelea made it through the initial cuts to be a part of the top thirty-something or other. But by the end of the hour, the self-centered pustule that is Tyra Banks had narrowed the field some more, and Angelea got the axe. As the realization of her failure washed over her, she broke into tears and exclaimed to the camera, “I can’t go back to Buffalo!” Now that’s what I call talkin’ proud.
—Joe Sweeney


Way to convince nonrelatives to visit WNY
National press from 2008
If anyone doubts the efficacy of our Convention Center and Visitors Bureau’s marketing efforts, they should be silenced by the avalanche of positive attention Buffalo received from major media outlets in 2008, including being named one of the top 44 places (in the world) to go in 2009 by the New York Times.


Place to bring visitors with kids
Buffalo Zoo / Rainforest Exhibit
300 Parkside Ave., 837-3900, www.buffalozoo.org
Never mind the lions, tigers, and bears—how about lizards, snakes, and monkeys in a four-season tropical escape that’s just minutes away.
Bargain for a day out with the family
Griffis Sculpture Park
6902 Mill Valley Rd., East Otto, 667-2808
www.griffispark.org
This 400-acre nature preserve and outdoor art gallery eight miles outside Ellicottville, open spring through fall, features a surprise past every clump of trees.
Bargain for a day out as a couple
Forest Lawn / Delaware Park / Shakespeare in the Park
We’d call it “romance on a dime,” but that’s ten cents more than this time-honored summer excursion would cost you.



Most interesting small town to visit in WNY
Lewiston
Artpark is merely the best-known of this historic village’s many delights; whether you’re in the mood for shopping, dining, live music, hiking, drinks overlooking the Mighty Niagara, or an old-fashioned custard stand, you’ve come to the right place.


Most fun weekend trip within WNY
Ellicottville
The crowded street fairs have long been recognized as must-do WNY events (as much for the partying as for the crafts), but you don’t have to wait for the next one to roll around; the skiing, microbrews, restaurants, and shops are eternal.

Best time capsule
Science is all about experimentation, the next revolutionary discovery, advancements that impact life as we know it. Unless you’re talking about the Buffalo Science Museum, that is. While there’s always a special exhibit being showcased in this institution’s hallowed halls (this summer, the museum features the spectacularly creepy Bodyworlds), a large portion of the place hasn’t changed since I was five—the taxidermied wildlife, meticulous dioramas, giant pendulum and general sense of warmth and humility that you won’t find at those elitist, “exciting” science museums. My wife and I always visit at least once a year, and it never fails to charm us. Sure, a technologically savvy wonderland would be more profitable. But when you’re replacing stuffed possums with robotic arms, the ends don’t justify the means.
—Joe Sweeney


Spookiest “haunted” location in WNY
Lily Dale
Dale Drive, Rt. 60, Cassadaga
www.lilydaleassembly.com
Whether you drive down for a paid reading, a free “stump service,” or just a walk through the folk-art-festooned woods, you’re sure to sense something eerie in this turn-of-the-old-century village that author Christine Wicker dubbed “The Town That Talks to the Dead.”
Most promising new construction
The Federal Courthouse
Hard not to get excited about the mammoth curved tower slowly rising in Niagara Square, by far the most important piece of high-profile architecture Buffalo has added to its skyline in decades.


Best work accomplished by a charity, organization, or group
WNY Food Bank
91 Holt Street, 852-1305 www.foodbankwny.org
The numbers tell the tale: 96,000 served in 2008. 


Coolest local tradition
Dyngus Day
WNY has no shortage of nominees in this category, but there’s something about pussywillows and squirt guns on the day after Easter that screams “You’re in Buffalo! The next round’s on me!


Favorite smell associated with WNY
Cheerios
Easily the most delightful aroma with ties to Buffalo’s industrial past. As our panel pointed out, “It’s got ‘cheer’ right there in the name!”


Product made in Buffalo
Watson's sponge candy
www.watsonschocolates.com
A superb rendition of one of WNY's most unique treats.
Brightest sign of hope for
Buffalo’s future
Magic Bullet still on ice
No, we don’t have a new Peace Bridge, Bass Pro Shop, or fancy casino (though the blue quonset hut is kinda cute). What we do have is cool downtown housing in reused historic buildings, a wind farm with more turbines to come, fantastic revitalized neighborhoods on the West Side, and a better art scene than many cities twice our size. Bass who?


Favorite local scandal
Nicole Kidman saves Studio Arena
We waited for Guffman to rescue one of our financially strapped cultural institutions, and Guffman turned out to be an Australian movie star who had no clue what we were talking about

Best reunion
A few years back, I labeled the scandalous split between Cellino & Barnes as “Buffalo’s Best Breakup.” Well, if you’ve watched TV or driven on a highway in the last year or so, you’ll notice that the Britney and K-Fed of our legal community have patched things up. When most people hear the words red, white, and blue, they think of the American flag. For me, those colors represent the quintessential American billboard: red letters, blue background, sweaty, startled white men. Here’s to Ross and Steve, two injury attorneys who refused to settle for less than true love.
—Joe Sweeney




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