BUFFALO (WBEN) - Just a couple days ahead of Easter Sunday means extended hours at the Broadway Market.
Both Friday and Saturday, the market will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. as vendors brace for the furious finish of the Easter shopping season.
People are starting to come back little by little," said Natalie Graziano of Buffalo Artisan Food Traders. "There has been some busier days leading up to Easter, the three days before Easter is our busy, busy time, so I'm excited."
On Thursday, the market felt very much alive, even amid the pandemic, as shoppers organized in long but socially distanced lines to pick up their holidays meats, butter lambs, horseradish, flowers, chocolates and other Easter shopping items.
"A big part of our family's life are the craft shows and the Broadway Market," Graziano continued. "It hurt last year not being able to have the Broadway Market, so I'm really happy that it's back."
Just a few weeks ago, vendors were simply hoping for a better Easter shopping season than last year.
"I'm kind of hoping we might go back to what we used to have because last year was a total washout," said Alfred Myers of Famous Horseradish on March 4. "There was nobody here - even on Good Friday it was dead - so this year I'm hoping that more people come back."
So far, this year has been much better than last according to other vendors such as Andrew Czerwonka of That Popcorn Shack and Thomas Poslinski of Enchanted Market Gifts.
"It's hopeful to see things kind of getting back to normal as they say," said Czerwonka. "It's been good for business, obviously, and there's a lot of people walking in and they're kind of surprised that there's this much activity going on somewhere during a pandemic."
"We didn't expect much coming into this season, but we're pleasantly surprised," added Poslinski. "We've been blessed this Easter Season - it's been pretty consistent. People have been coming in evenly throughout the last two weeks, and we're really grateful for that."
Graziano made a point to thank everyone who has shopped the market to support local vendors, as the pandemic has created an especially difficult time for many.
"I'm so grateful that people are coming out and supporting local businesses," she said. "We really needed everybody's help to stay afloat...thank you for supporting us."
