Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The weather is warming up across Western New York, which is allowing many to get out of the house and enjoy all the region has to offer.
One of the more popular spots for people to flock to when conditions start to clear up is the Buffalo Outer Harbor, especially for those looking to get in a nice walk or bike ride along the Buffalo Waterfront.
In addition to the Outer Harbor being an outlet for Western New Yorkers to get out and get active, it has become the destination in the City of Buffalo to host the larger gatherings, which includes outdoor concerts, festivals and other public events.
This year will mark the third year of the Outer Harbor Concert Series, which takes place at the Lakeside Event Lawn starting May 20 with Gaslight Anthem coming to Buffalo. While there's no other concerts scheduled at this time, that will soon be changing with announcements of more acts to come.
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"Over the next few weeks, we're anticipating announcing several other concerts," said Lauren Moloney Ford, general manager of Buffalo Waterfront. "We're working closely with tours and finalizing dates with them. We're really excited to kick off this season a little early this year on May 20 with Gaslight Anthem. Typically, we wait until Memorial Day, but it's gonna be exciting this summer to kick off a little earlier."
While concerts are always a popular event at the Outer Harbor, there is more that it has to offer for people every year.
"We have a host of daily activities that people can partake in," Ford said. "The Independent Health Wellness Trail will be open, we have kayak rentals. If you're looking for those one-offs, kind of special events to come out for, we have some of our favorites coming back. The Water Lantern Festival is coming back, the Irish Festival is a weekend-long celebration at the end of July, 5k walks that we raise money for different nonprofits with. There's really something for everybody should do this summer, and all of those updates can be found on BuffaloWaterfront.com."
This past winter in Western New York was quite brutal along the Buffalo Waterfront, especially in December when the Christmas Weekend Blizzard struck the region. That storm started with some extremely high winds that caused seiches off Lake Erie, followed by some bitter cold temperatures and heavy snow that buried much of the City of Buffalo.
As a result of the winter weather, a significant amount of debris from the lake washed ashore, creating a mess in some areas along the waterfront. However, most of the debris has been cleared from the area, as many people look to take advantage of the trails around the Outer Harbor.
"We're almost done with the cleanup from the storm, we did take a little bit of debris from that," said Senior Director of Design for the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation (ECHDC), Mark Wendel.
"If you come out for a walk and enjoy a nice summer day, maybe a little less blustery than it is [Wednesday], you'll notice some of the walkways are closed at this time, as we're still trying to clean up the debris that got washed ashore. But we should be wrapped up with that within the next couple of weeks, as well."
In addition, the State Department of Transportation used the Outer Harbor as a site to dump a large amount of the excess snow that fell in the City of Buffalo during the Christmas Weekend Blizzard. Not only was the snow dumped there, but it was packed down and left there over the winter to melt as much as it could.
However, Wendel says most of the remaining snowpack that was in place has almost been cleared out, allowing for the site to then be cleared of the debris that was also packed in with the snow.
"It was a lot of snow," he said. "The D.O.T has been doing a great job of whittling it down, getting it off the site. We expect them to be complete definitely before June, but it looks like they're actually going to be completed a little bit sooner than later. It's been a slow process for some days, but it's been timed out pretty well to get it all removed."
Meanwhile, there are plenty of ongoing projects along the Outer Harbor that could have been threatened with the weather that took hold along the Buffalo Waterfront this winter. The good news, though, is everything seems to be in good shape.
"It didn't really hinder us from moving forward," Wendel said. "Our 'Terminal B' project, which is our outdoor event center, should be complete by the end of this summer. We are starting construction on our Bell Slip project that's going to bring much-needed public restrooms at a central point of the Outer Harbor, and help really re-create and re-connect some pedestrian paths a little bit easier here, more of a central point."
The construction of "Terminal B" has been ongoing dating back to last year, and it will eventually become the "Lakeside Event Center" once it is completed. The future entertainment center at the Outer Harbor was once a former abandoned warehouse that has been stripped down to the bones and transformed.
According to Wendel, everything with the project remains on schedule, and is expected to be completed by the end of the summer.
"We're still on schedule to be utilizing that space in 2024," he said. "I think what it's going to bring is a permanent structure that's going to help with concerts, not for profit walks, with a lot of other cultural events. Instead of bringing in temporary stages and temporary facilities, it's going to give us a permanent stage that we can bring in vendors, and kind of look at what we can provide them for shows and events in the future."
As for Ford, she knows that the "Terminal B" project will be a game-changer for concerts at the Outer Harbor when it is set to go online next year
"Right now, we start with an empty field, and we bring in the power, bring in the food and beverage, the security fencing and everything. Once that 'Terminal B' project [is ready], it really will be a home base that people can work out of, we have a back of house that's set up," Ford said. "I think we'll be able to attract more concerts out here with that build."
While some areas of the Outer Harbor remain fenced off due to cleanup efforts following the winter storms, other parts of the area are also fenced off due to some ongoing projects to enhance the space even more.
At Bell Slip, most of the area is blocked off from the public with work ongoing almost every day. It's a project that won't be completed until 2024, according to Wendel.
"There will be some fencing that's going to kind of limit access along the water, but really only at Bell Slip only," he said. "The rest of the trails will be opened up for this summer, and for use in the spring, maybe within the next couple of months."
Meanwhile, at Wilkeson Pointe, if you walk towards the beach area, you may notice a number of large boulders that have been piled up just beyond the beach, almost acting as a break wall along the shore. As it turns out, that was done by design.
"The wall that got put up there is kind of in response to the storm damage that we got," Wendel said. "During those seiches, some of the damage went about 20 feet past the beach wall there. So that's helping retain. If you go out there now, you'll see that some of the debris is being held back now, and we're still going to have public access, we're going to improve it."
In addition, there will be another project starting this fall at Wilkeson Pointe to make that area of Outer Harbor more of an attraction for the public during the warmer months of the season.
"We were operating out of a shipping container, we're going to put a permanent structure in there that's gonna have restrooms, that's going to have food, beverage options. And then we're also going to create a better way, a path to get down to that beach area through that wall," Wendel explained. "So right now, it's there to kind of withhold what we're going to see with these winds that we're getting right now. But we're going to be improving that in the future.
Wendel also says the Army Corps of Engineers will be working this year on Slip 3 at the Outer Harbor, putting in another break wall at the far end of the slip to help further protect that area from water and other damage that comes during the winter months. He says that project will take a number of years to complete in the end.
With the projects that are ongoing, set to get underway later this year, or that are still in the works, Ford says it's exciting to see the progress that's being made at the Outer Harbor.
"It's showing that people really like coming out to the Outer Harbor, and they're anticipating even more festivals and things coming in the future," she said. "Having the 'Terminal B' project complete will really be a game-changer. It'll give us a host site and a real landing point for events to be here in the long-term."
One area of focus that will continue to be evaluated in the years to come at the Outer Harbor will be the flow of traffic and the accessibility for people to get down to the Buffalo Waterfront. Although there are no immediate plans to improve the accessibility for cars, bikes and foot traffic, it is of focus for the ECHDC going forward.
"I think that's one thing the Governor has always given us the direction that you want to get more water access for the public. With that, you've gotta help with the access to those sites. That's something we'll continue to examine," Wendel said. "There's really nothing we're going to address at this point. We're really trying to improve, again, water access, the pedestrian paths, creating these more amenities stations with the restroom building at Bell Slip to have that back room, backstage that help build upon the events we're having in the future."
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