Today is a bittersweet day. While The City was busy allowing a North Buffalo neighborhood to be pillaged, developer Karl Frizlen was busy helping to create a community on the city’s West Side. As I walked from my house, down Connecticut Street towards the Winter Market at Horsefeathers I found myself deep in thought. Instead of thinking about what lay ahead of me, I couldn’t get the church on Colvin out of my mind. Even as I sit here typing, enjoying the fruits from the market, I find it hard to concentrate on a story that I have been looking forward to writing for over a year. Just as the wrecking of Saint Mary’s on the Hill (leveled by City Hall a year and a half ago) still lingers in the air, not far from the Winter Market in fact, we have lost still more of our irreplaceable history.
Had it not been for the Winter Market, the day would have been completely memorable for all of the wrong reasons. Instead, the market was such an overwhelming success that the bright silver lining has offered solace from the goings on to the north of the city.
On the walk to the market, I passed a number of other people as they made similar pilgrimages in search of locally produced meats, cheeses, wines, flatbreads, soaps, etc… in a building that is now an overnight anchor in the community. After living in the neighborhood for the last fourteen years, it was a welcome sight to see all of the people walking to and from the Winter Market, socializing in the street, before carrying their goods home. Inside the market it was no different. The place was teeming with activity, both sellers and buyers. The scene must have been exactly what Karl Frizlen had hoped for.
If the first day of the Winter Market is any sign of what is to come, then Connecticut Street is on the brink of becoming a year ’round culinary destination. In coming weeks, the market will grow…
The vendors you can expect to find include: Arden Farm, Green Heron Growers, Chateau Buffalo, First Light Farm & Creamery, Biscotti for Everybotti, Spices & Mixes by Milly, Saltamontes Salsa, Avenue Boys Smokehouse, Fetch Dog Treats, and The Pasta Peddler. Furthermore, additional vendors will be added as the season, and project, progresses. Additionally, Martin Cooks will resume cooking breakfast and lunch items at the market next week, which many of you became familiar with at the Elmwood-Bidwell location over the summer. Chef/Owner Martin Danilowicz will also be setting up permanent residence in the building, opening up his first full-service restaurant by month’s end. – GirlFriday
… let’s just hope that City Hall comes to its senses, and starts to rethink its policy that condones the destruction of buildings that have stood for a hundred years. Structures such as the Horsefeathers building offer this city invaluable opportunities that can’t simply be recreated as we see fit. These are the historic buildings that all cities clamor for because they are built by the hands of artisans and to this day inspire the imaginations of developers and entrepreneurs… something that a parking lot or a Dollar Store will never do.