July 25-26, 2015 will marks the 21st year that Garden Walk Buffalo has been welcoming garden enthusiasts from around the country into yards around the City of Buffalo. This year also marks the first collaboration of a newly sowed relationship between the BAF and Garden Walk Buffalo. As part of our Building Stories Program, Garden Walk Buffalo 2015 visitors will be able to not only see these amazing spaces in person, but will also be able to hear select properties’ Building (or Garden) Story. By scanning the QR Codes on the signage along the tour, visitors will gain an insiders perspective to these amazing and unique spaces.
A Brief History of Garden Walk Buffalo:
Founded in by Marvin Lunenfeld and Gail McCarthy in 1995, they presented the idea of a garden walk to the members of the Norwood/West Utica Neighborhood Association, which represented their West Side community, and that summer a group of volunteers from that organization had set up the basic structure for the first Buffalo Garden Walk, held on July 15 and 16, 1995. Twenty-nine gardens were entered, most of them in the area enclosed by West Ferry, Richmond, Summer, and Elmwood Avenues. The number of gardens participating in the Garden Walk has increased every year, topping over 400 in 2015 making the event one of the largest of its kind in the United States. The main goals were to encourage neighborhood beautification and to promote community pride. Beginning in 2002, Garden Walk has awarded beautification grants for community projects within the Walk’s boundaries. Success stories abound of the benefits of gardening to better neighborhoods.
About Building Stories:
Buildings Stories is a multi-media personal history project documenting and sharing profound individual experiences with architecture, construction, landscape and planning throughout Western New York. Submissions are featured on the foundation website and comprise University at Buffalo Libraries digital collection that can be accessed through UBdigit.http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/collection/LIB-APL001/
