 Ed Cardoni
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Ed came to Buffalo (long a widely acknowledged literary hot spot, whose reputation he knew from afar) in 1981 to pursue his Ph.D. in English at UB. He got involved in the arts instead (equally hot in that realm, though he didn't know it till he got here), and ended up still in Buffalo a quarter century later. He is employed as the Executive Director of Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center.
Favorite Activities
Attending art openings, concerts, and films; bicycling around Delaware Park or along the Niagara River; attending Bisons games or driving up to Toronto when the Red Sox visit the Blue Jays; shopping, dining, or just hanging out on the Elmwood Strip; watching my daughter's West Side Ponytail League softball games at LaSalle Park on long summer evenings and sunny Saturday mornings; shopping at Guercio's year-round and at the Elmwood-Bidwell Farmers' Market in the summer, then cooking Italian or Mexican food; enjoying the lilacs and other blossoms in Buffalo's too brief spring; skiing in Ellicottville during Buffalo's too long winter; touring wineries in the Finger Lakes or Ontario's Niagara Region.
5 Things I love about Buffalo
- Elmwood Village and its beautiful (and affordable) old houses, Farmers' Market, annual Festival of the Arts, and commercial strip, including gift shops, independent bookstores, record stores, and coffee shops like Talking Leaves, New World Record, Spot, and Caffe Aroma
- The concentration of world-class avant-garde culture (visual arts, media art, music, literature, etc.) at places like Hallwalls, Squeaky Wheel, & CEPA
- Triple-A baseball at one of the best minor league ballparks in America, often featuring soon-to-be, former, or rehabbing major leaguers
- Broadway Market at Easter
- The close-knit and overlapping arts and progressive political activist communities.
My favorite local hidden treasures you shouldn't miss
Vidler's 5&10 in East Aurora; Flying Bison beer; the collection of '70s and '80s art at the Castellani Art Museum at Niagara University; private backyard gardens open to the public every July for Garden Walk; locally-produced maple syrup.
My perfect day spent in the Buffalo area
A Saturday in summer, starting with a large coffee at Caffe Aroma and the newspaper from Talking Leaves, maybe lingering over the coffee to do last Sunday's New York Times crossword in this Saturday's Buffalo News, then walking across Elmwood to shop for produce at the Bidwell Farmers' Market (especially when blueberries and rhubarb are in season) and running into just about everyone you know, then over to LaSalle Park for a West Side Ponytail Softball League game that my daughter's team wins, followed by celebratory ice cream at Custard Corner, then a bike ride with the family, a Bisons game vs. the PawSox, listening to Garrison Keillor while getting ready to go out, a couple of art openings, finishing with drinks (and, if no one objects, maybe a cigar) on the sidewalk patio at Hardware in Allentown.
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