Canal Fest

Summer in Western New York is filled with many different festivals: the Allentown Art Festival, a Taste of Buffalo, the Italian Festival, the Friendship Festival. One of the high points of our summer is a weeklong celebration called Canal Fest. The "cities" of Tonawanda and North Tonawanda jointly sponsor this annual event along the Erie Canal which separates the two cities. People come from all over, many planning their vacations around this and traveling by boat to get here. Boats of all sizes and varieties are anchored up and down the canal. We would come just to see the boats and sit by the water!

It was overcast and it looked like it would rain any minute but we ventured out anyway.

Various charitable organizations and churches run their own food tents to raise funds for the year. Our favorite place to eat is the OLC Polish Kitchen. Apparently it is the favorite of many people because the line was about 50 people long! It was worth the wait. We enjoyed a delicious Polish Platter Dinner while, coincidentally, a polka band played on the music stage nearby. It was the first time I've ever heard Billy Joel's "You May Be Right" played polka style.

We crossed the bridge to watch the boats and to see what was happening on the other side. This year they added a petting zoo with farm animals for the kids. We stopped to see a chainsaw wood carver.

Then, the real reason we were there on this particular night - Cruise Night! John is a fan of "old timer" cars.


This one was a beauty!

It started to rain when we'd seen almost all the cars so we decided to head home. Hmmm.......I didn't get my fried dough!!!!! Thank goodness Canal Fest runs through Sunday and is close enough to sneak back to get some!