This weekend will be a busy one for the “twin cities” of North Tonawanda and Tonawanda, as three events will happen concurrently.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Arts and Eats on Webster festival will showcase what North Tonawanda has to offer with over a dozen vendors and many deals, while across the canal, the Carnegie Art Spree will feature Tonawanda’s art scene.
On Saturday, the Albany Symphony will also end its canal tour with a full-day free festival at Gateway Harbor Park in North Tonawanda.
Rachel DeDomenico, president of the Downtown North Tonawanda Merchants Association, said Wednesday the weekend is all about bringing the community together.
“It's all about community. We're bringing the community from all over Western New York to highlight North Tonawanda and Tonawanda," DeDomenico said. "And on the North Tonawanda side, it's food, it's dance, it's music, and it's all local. We really just want to bring the community down to showcase what North Tonawanda has to offer.”
Kristin Derby is the board president for Carnegie Art Center, which is hosting the Carnegie Art Spree on the downtown Tonawanda side of the canal. The art spree lifts up artists in the Tonawandas while also fundraising for the center.
Derby said this weekend will challenge what people might think when they think of the twin cities.
“Part of the reason we started the event, as well, was to change the conversation about what the Tonawandas is," Derby said. "There's an image out there [of the Tonawandas] that may be a little outdated, so we want people to come in and see that, and then also see the community that works together to make this happen.”
Both the festival and the art spree will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
On Saturday, the symphony’s daytime event will run from 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Following the daytime event, local acts will open up for the symphony, who will perform a free concert at 8 p.m., followed by a drone light show.
The weekend of events comes just a few weeks after the annual eight-day Canal Fest of the Tonawandas. This year was the first in over 40 years where Canal Fest was held at Gratwick Park instead of downtown.
While not everyone was happy with the move, this weekend's events are among the many that still take over the downtowns throughout the year.
North Tonawanda Mayor Austin Tylec said moving the lengthy Canal Fest and holding shorter events downtown, so far, seems to have benefitted businesses.
“With the Canal Fest moving, I spoke to almost every business. Not one complaint about it. They are thriving down here between the Tonawandas. They're making a ton of money, ton of people coming every day. So really, we didn't see a huge dip by any means with that big shift," Tylec said.
Tylec said he's spoken with the organizers, who told him it will be held at the park again next year.
Tonawanda Mayor William Strassburg agreed the new location was beneficial.
"Canal Fest was always a little bit polarizing with the businesses because some did benefit, but some also were hurt by it," Strassburg said. "Also, because of the stress, strain and the setup of Canal Fest, it was a difficult eight days and that [new] location seemed to work well."
